By BOB SHRALUKA
WZBD.com
The City of Decatur is spending just over $5,000 to protect itself from possible court suits involving its use of social media.
Community Coordinator Jamie Gephart got everyone’s attention when she asked city council at its latest meeting to add what she described as an “archive app” to protect the city from possible lawsuits.
She said recent court verdicts have held that municipalities are responsible for producing their social media posts upon request. In other words, if someone asks the city for a copy of something it posted two years ago, the city has to produce it – if not, it can be sued!
It would be practically impossible for Gephart or anyone else in city government to find such a request among hundreds – maybe thousands – of various items it has posted in recent years.
To protect itself, Gephart said, the city needs to hire a firm to keep a record of its posts.
For $849, a firm called Archive Social, will handle the task for the rest of this year. A total of $4,188 will be required to continue the process through 2025.
If hired, the firm would cover 12 social media accounts.
“You’re liable if you can’t produce it (a post that is requested),” Mayor Dan Rickord said. “Lots of cities are doing this (hiring protection).”
“Anything on our social media pages, we are accountable for,” Gephart added.
“This subscription service would help us to handle this,” City Attorney Anne Razo remarked.
After some further discussion, Councilwoman Jenny Bowers-Shultz moved to hire Archive Social. “I don’t love it, but it is something we have to do,” she said.
A second followed by a 5-0 vote moved the procedure forward.
“Capture every record from your social communications with government social media archiving software,” the company says on its website.
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