Did You Know… (#7)

…that the Borough can no longer accept public comments on our Facebook page?

Unfortunately local governments are now required to either allow all comments posted on Facebook to remain visible to the public or to hide all comments  – there is no in-between or censorship permitted! Up until this week the Borough deleted or hid only the comments that contained very strong language (think eff bombs!), were sexual in nature, or verbally attacked or threatened another person — all other comments had remained visible.

Even comments from hate groups are considered protected speech and can no longer be deleted or hidden by local government — unless all other comments are hidden too.

Given that we can no longer delete or hide Facebook comments that violated our policy, sadly it has become necessary to hide all comments. The Palmyra Police Department have hidden comments on their Facebook page for sometime now, and now the Borough must follow suit.

The following disclaimer now appears on the Borough’s Facebook page (yeah, written by the lawyers).

Please be advised that the Borough of Palmyra does not accept public comment on its Social Media sites. In the event that you wish to express your opinions or comment upon any matters of public interest, you may send same in writing to c/o The Office of the Clerk, Borough of Palmyra, 20 W. Broad Street, Palmyra, New Jersey 08065, or by sending an email to djackson@boroughofpalmyra.com. Please be advised that any such correspondence will be subject to the provisions of the “Open Public Records Act.” See N.J.S.A 47:1A-1 et seq.