Moderation Policy for Official Gettysburg College Social Media Accounts

Moderation Policy for Official Gettysburg College Social Media Accounts

Policy Owner Communications and Marketing
Contact Information Staci Grimes, Director of Marketing and Digital Engagement
Approval Authority President
Approved By Bob Iuliano
Approval Signature Approved
Approval Date September 15, 2026
Effective Date September 15, 2026
Date of Last Review March 1, 2021
Date of Next Review September 2029
Related Policies N/A

Purpose of Policy

This policy establishes Gettysburg College's rights and practices regarding the monitoring, moderation, and management of content posted to the College's Official Social Media. It is intended to maintain a safe, respectful, and lawful online environment consistent with the College's values and standards.

Scope of Policy

This policy applies to all Gettysburg College Official Social Media accounts and pages, and to any individual who posts or interacts with content on those platforms, including but not limited to students, faculty, staff, alumni, and members of the public. It does not apply to personal social media accounts of individual community members, except where those accounts interact with College Official Social Media.

Definitions

  • Social Media: Any digital platform or website that allows users to create, share, or interact with content, including but not limited to Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, TikTok, and YouTube.
  • Official Social Media: Social media accounts and pages owned, operated, or managed by Gettysburg College.
  • Content: Any post, comment, image, video, link, or other material submitted or published to a social media platform.
  • Spam: Repeated, unsolicited, or irrelevant content, including posts containing or linking to viruses, malware, spyware, or similar harmful programs.

Policy Description

Monitoring and Moderation

Gettysburg College Official Social Media may be created, used and monitored by the College, but Gettysburg College has no obligation to accept, display, review, monitor, or maintain any Official Social Media account or page. The College may monitor Official Social Media and may prohibit, restrict, block, suspend, terminate, delete, or discontinue access to Official Social Media in accordance with this Policy.

Content Removal

Gettysburg College reserves the right to delete comments or posts that are off-topic or irrelevant to the focus of the original post, that are inconsistent with the College’s Mission and Core Values, that conflict with the College’s Community Standards or other conduct policies, or that are unlawful. Accordingly, the College may delete comments or posts from Official Social Media that are:

  • Profane, obscene, indecent, sexually explicit, or pornographic —including masked profanity where symbols, initials, intentional misspellings, or other characters are used to suggest profane language.
  • Calls to violence or unlawful action, threats of violence, or that constitute a violation of law.
  • Impersonating any person or entity or falsely state or otherwise misrepresenting an affiliation with a person or entity.
  • Discriminatory or harassing, or defamatory.
  • Spam, or content containing or linking to any kind of virus, malware, spyware, or similar program that could cause harm to a user's computer.
  • Solicitations or content that promote commercial interests.
  • Political or campaign endorsements that are prohibited because of the College’s non-profit corporation status.
  • Comments with no relationship to the individual, group, program, initiative, event, or other subject that the original post features.

Gettysburg College may also turn off or disable comments on Official Social Media posts that address sensitive topics or when comment volume becomes unmanageable. 

Additional Actions

Any documentation related to moderation of College social media accounts will be stored for at least one year following documentation creation.

Gettysburg College may contact law enforcement at its discretion upon observing content that threatens or that may constitute unlawful activity. 

Policy Management

The policy owner and the office responsible for implementing this policy are Staci Grimes, Director of Marketing and Digital Engagement, and Gettysburg College Office of Communications and Marketing. Questions regarding this policy and its application to official College social media pages should be directed to the designated policy owner using the contact information listed above.