The City Council originally adopted a social media policy in 2010 to govern how the city interacts on social media. It was revised in 2014 and again in 2019 to more accurately highlight how the city uses social media.

The city began using ArchiveSocial in December 2021 to archive all content - including original, edited or deleted comments, messages and media - on the majority of city-managed social media platforms. The Social Media Policy has been updated for transparency purposes to clarify that content is being archived and is subject to the Minnesota Data Practices Act. The updated policy also slightly narrows the scope of what types of content the city may delete at its discretion to include content unrelated to the original post's topic and content that endorses or opposes political candidates, campaigns or ballot measures. This was included to provide the city the option of legally deleting comments that are used to derail post topics or cause controversy. 

The Proposed Social Media Policy attachment includes notes with changes from the 2019 approved policy. The policy draft has been reviewed by the city attorney.