Why Archive Social Media?
To comply with public records laws, government agencies and public entities must retain all records of social media communications and interactions, and be able to present them upon public records requests.
Public Records Laws and Social Media
Public record laws state that public entities are responsible for responding to FOIA/Open Records requests related to social media and website content. Accurate recordkeeping for compliance includes preserving meta-data, comments (even if edited or deleted), and original content exactly as it happened across all of your social media platforms and website pages.
Complying with these laws can cost thousands a year, and endless hours of time. But managing your entire online presence doesn’t have to be hard. By automatically capturing and preserving your data in one secure location, you’ll never miss a post or comment, and can quickly find and respond to records requests, in the exact formats you need. Saving dramatically on public records costs, and increasing your transparency.
What Social Media Record Capture with ArchiveSocial Provides
Active Monitoring & Capturing
Data-Loss Prevention & Compliance
Secure Data Storage & Centralized Control
Public records regulations apply to social media communications in all 50 states. Public entities must be prepared to respond to public records requests for all their public and ancillary pages on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks. Archiving ensures compliance with public records laws, FOIA/open records requests, eDiscovery and litigation readiness, GDPR & CCPA, and social media retention requirements.
Reasons for Archiving Social Media
Social Media Records are Public Records
1. Social Media is a Public Record
In the USA, social media is considered a public record in all 50 states. All public agencies have an obligation to comply with open record laws.
2. Comments are Critical
Public records laws maintain that you need to be able to produce social media records – both from your own content, and also from content your constituents create – in response to records requests.
3. You Can’t Rely on Social Networks
Social media networks were built to facilitate the online connection of billions of private citizens to one another. They are not built for, nor bound to, public records laws, and have no legal obligation to retain records for you.
4. “Screenshots” are Not Compliant
Manual processes are inefficient for both capturing and searching records, and often don’t suffice in court. Challenges with frequency of capture, hidden/deleted/revised content, and no meta-data to prove authenticity of records all leave agencies with significant risks.
5. You WILL Need to Produce Records
You are required by law to be able to produce social media content if there is a public records request for it. Having a system in place that captures all content and meta-data is the only way of ensuring compliance with social media regulations and compliance laws.
View Your State Regulations
Use the interactive map to discover your state’s laws today.
Social media archiving is the only way to consistently respond to records requests.
The ArchiveSocial Solution Overview
How Social Media Archiving Works
Download the Solution Overview to see how ArchiveSocial works, and learn more about the benefits of social media archiving for records compliance.
As a public entity, we are required by law to be able to reproduce that information if there is a public request for it, an open records request. That is not something we are capable of doing without having some type of system in place that actually can go out and get what they call the metadata.
Seward County, Kansas
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