Public & Government Affairs

Purpose

Clackamas County’s official social media accounts are important tools for sharing news, services, and information with our community. We welcome public engagement and encourage respectful dialogue.

Comments posted by the public on our social media pages reflect individual viewpoints and do not represent the opinions or policies of Clackamas County.

While we respect and uphold the First Amendment, our social media accounts operate as limited public forums. This means we allow a broad range of discussion but reserve the right to enforce reasonable, content-neutral restrictions to ensure the safety, relevance, and integrity of our platforms.

Definitions

• Social Media Accounts: Official  -managed platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn, and others. (Please see our social media page)
• Comments: User-generated content, including text, images, emojis, GIFs, memes, links, and videos posted in response to county content.
• Users: Members of the public who view, follow, or interact with county social media accounts.

Scope & Application

• These guidelines apply to all official Clackamas County social media platforms.
• County staff responsible for managing these accounts are tasked with enforcing the guidelines.
• Social media channels are not monitored 24/7. For emergencies, always dial 911.
• Service requests or complaints requiring action should be submitted through official county service channels, not social media.
• Comments are subject to the Oregon public records law (ORS 192.311).

Expectations for Engagement

We ask community members to engage respectfully, stay on topic, and help maintain a constructive environment. Civil disagreement is welcome; harassment and abusive behavior are not.

Content Moderation & Forum Protocol

Public comments are generally welcome. However, Clackamas County reserves the right to hide or remove comments that violate these guidelines or applicable laws. Comments are never removed solely because they are critical of the County.

Examples of content that may be hidden or removed include (but are not limited to):

1. Profanity, obscenity, or sexually explicit material

   • Vulgar, offensive, or sexually suggestive language or images.
   • Material that appeals to prurient interests and lacks serious value.
   • Inappropriate humor

2. Hate speech or discrimination

   • Attacks, slurs, or disparaging language based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, or veteran status.

3. Threats and incitement of violence

   • Direct or indirect threats toward individuals, groups, or County staff.
   • Encouragement of illegal activity or violence.

4. Defamation, false information, or personal attacks

   • False statements intended to damage a person’s reputation.
   • Harassing, bullying, or hostile language directed at individuals or groups.
   • Deliberately misleading claims presented as fact.

5. Commercial solicitations and spam

   • Repetitive posts of the same message or link.
   • Unsolicited promotions, advertising, or fundraising not sponsored by Clackamas County.

6. Malicious or harmful content

   • Malware, phishing attempts, or harmful links.
   • Content that could compromise the security of County systems or public devices.
   • Be in violation of any applicable federal, state or local laws, or promote the violation of such.

7. Off-topic or irrelevant content

   • Posts unrelated to the subject matter of the County’s post.
   • Comments intended to derail or distract from a discussion.

8. Copyright or intellectual property violations

   • Posting materials without the permission of the owner or required attribution.

9. Private or personal information

   • Sharing of phone numbers, home addresses, financial details, medical information, or other sensitive personal data.

Public Records Transparency

All content, including hidden or deleted posts, may be archived and could be subject to disclosure under Oregon public records law (ORS 192.311).

Disclaimers

• Comments posted by members of the public do not reflect the views, positions, or policies of Clackamas County.
• We are not responsible for any personal or sensitive information disclosed voluntarily by users in public comments.
• External links shared on our accounts or in public comments are not endorsements, and Clackamas County is not responsible for the content or security of third-party sites.

No Endorsements

Following, liking, or sharing content from outside individuals, groups, or organizations does not imply Clackamas County endorsement. It is solely a communication or engagement action.

Contact Us

For questions, concerns, or appeals related to social media content or these guidelines, please contact:

Clackamas County Public & Government Affairs
PGA@clackamas.us 

Clackamas County PGA Privacy Policy

Clackamas County is committed to respecting your privacy. The purpose of this policy is to inform you what information we collect from you, how we use your information, and the choices that you have regarding our use of your information. By using any of our websites or sharing your information with us you are accepting and consenting to the practices described in this Privacy Policy. 

Collecting Information About You 

We collect the following types of personal information:

• Contact Information: your first and last name, postal address, email address, and phone number;
• Other identifying information, such as social media user names;
• Demographic information: gender, age
• Audio and visual information: your videos and photos;

Categories of Use

• Marketing and Promotional Purposes: We may use your contact information, demographic information, internet or other electronic activity, geolocation data, and inferences to:
  • Run contests and promotions
  • Provide you with information about County programs and services
• Review and Content Creation Purposes: We use your contact information, and audio and visual information to enable reviews of our services and to display content that you have created and allowed us to display on our website and on social media.
• Security and Fraud Prevention: We may use your contact information, other identifying information, internet activity and browsing history, and inferences to protect the County’s social media sites and others, and to prevent fraud, theft and misconduct

Sources of Personal Information 

We collect information from the following sources:

• We collect information directly from you. We collect contact and demographic information directly from you.
• We may collect information about you from third parties. We may collect your personal information from third parties, such as social media sites and data co-ops. We use the Google Maps service on our websites and may use the Google Maps service, and other services, to collect geolocation data. The Google Maps service is governed by Google’s privacy policy located at www.google.com/policies/privacy. We may collect your identifying information from Facebook, in accordance with their terms of use and privacy policy.
• We collect information from you passively. We collect Internet or other electronic activity passively using
• tools like browser cookies. This activity is further described in the Advertising and Online Tracking section below.

Sharing Information

Unless a user consents to such distribution, Clackamas County will not sell or lease personally identifiable information to other governments, organizations, or private businesses within the limits of the law. However, both state and federal laws place special burdens on public entities, such as Clackamas County, to assure the public’s right to access public records and information. Public information (as opposed to private information) involves information about activity that is regulated. For example, in purchasing a building permit online, a person’s name is public information (because building permits are regulated by the County), but the fact that you bought it with a certain credit-card number is not (because means of purchasing is not regulated). Furthermore, public information would include correspondence with the County, including e-mails and website comments about county processes, policies, activities and other types of general correspondence. Disclosure of public records is subject to Oregon’s Public Records law.

Disclosure of Information about User

Information provided exclusively to Clackamas County by a user through the County’s social media may be subject to Oregon’s public records law and other state and federal laws governing records disclosure/confidentiality for public entities. For example, Clackamas County will, whenever possible, seek to keep personal information about a user confidential if public disclosure would lead to an unreasonable invasion of privacy, unless a third party sufficiently demonstrates that the public interest requires disclosure under particular circumstances.

Right to Know, Right to Deletion and Right to Correct 

You can request to have us tell you what personal information we have collected, used, or disclosed. You can also request that we delete your personal information. We may not delete all your personal information if one of the following exceptions applies:

• Transactional: to complete a transaction for which the personal information was collected, provide a good or service requested by you, or perform a contract we have with you;
• Security: to detect data security incidents; preserve the integrity or security of systems; or investigate, report, or prosecute those responsible for any such action;
• Error Correction: to debug or repair any errors;
• Legal: to protect against fraud, harassment, malicious or deceptive activities, or illegal activity or to comply with applicable law or a legal obligation, or exercise rights under the law, such as the right to free speech; to assist another party with any of its obligations under applicable privacy laws; or
• Internal Use: to use your personal information, internally, in a lawful manner that is compatible with the context in which you provided the information (i.e. to improve our services).

Protecting Children

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 18 without consent of the parent or legal guardian. If you are a parent or legal guardian and you are aware that any of your children has provided us with personal information without your consent, please contact us and we will take steps to delete that information. 

You can review personal information collected from a child and refuse to permit its further use or maintenance by the County. 

Links to Third-Party Sites 

Our websites or social media may contain links to social media sites operated and maintained by third parties, over which we have no control. Privacy policies on such linked sites may be different from our website privacy policy. You access such linked sites at your own risk. You should always read the privacy policy of a linked site before disclosing any of your information on such site.

Use of County forums 

See Clackamas County’s Privacy Policy for information about the use of County forums. 

Disclaimers, Indemnity, Jurisdiction, Severability, and Closing of Agreement

See Clackamas County’s Website Privacy Policy for information on these topics. 

Policy Changes

If we decide to change our privacy policy in whole or in part, we will inform you by posting a notice on our websites, as applicable. Those changes will go into effect on the effective date posted in the notice and at the end of the revised Privacy Policy. The new policy will apply to all current and past users of our websites and will replace any prior policies that are inconsistent. Your continued use of our websites or other services constitutes your acceptance of the practices described in the revised Privacy Policy.

Contact Us 

You can contact us at pga@clackamas.us