Public Notice

Texas A&M University System (A&M System) and its members and agencies provide the following information to notify the public of the policy areas that impact the public’s use of the Social Media Tools by the A&M System and its members and agencies.

Accessibility

The A&M System is committed to providing an online presence that enables full public access to Texas government information and services.  Please reference the A&M System accessibility statement and/or the accessibility policy of each of our members and agencies for more information

To accommodate users with disabilities, here are suggested alternative access sites for these social media channels:

Facebook
The Facebook mobile site http://m.facebook.com is a suggested accessible alternative to the original Facebook page. Please also reference Facebook’s help page for Accessibility for People with Disabilities for more information.

Flickr
The mobile version of Flickr http://m.flickr.com/ is the suggested alternative to access the original Flickr page.

Instagram
As Instagram is owned by Facebook, please reference Facebook’s help page for Accessibility for People with Disabilities.

Twitter
The accessible version of Twitter  www.accessibletwitter.com is the suggested alternative access to the original Twitter profile.

YouTube
The A&M System and its members and agencies will make an effort to link to and display videos on its YouTube channel that have closed captioning available for hearing impaired viewers. For more information about the closed captioning feature on YouTube, visit: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2734796?hl=en

Intellectual Property Rights and Ownership

Intellectual property rights of content provided by the public will be governed by federal copyright law, the terms of service of the social media provider, and the copyright policies of the A&M System and each of its members and agencies. Please reference the Digital Millennium Copyright Act notice and contact information for each of our members and agencies should you need to report a copyright issue.

Any trademarks that appear on A&M System social media sites are the property of their respective owners who may or may not be affiliated with, connected to, or sponsored by the A&M System. Please refer to the trademark requirements of each of our member institutions and agencies for information before using any A&M System trademark.

Linking/Third-Party Websites

The A&M System and its members may make available social media applications and may publish social media content to third-party sites. These sites are not official web sites and therefore, the State Website Linking and Privacy Policy apply as well as the Linking Policies of our member institutions and agencies.

Moderation

All published social media content may be subject to monitoring. This content may take the form of digital text, photography images, and videos. User-generated posts may be rejected or removed if possible when the content of a post:

  • violates the terms of service that governs the social media sites
  • contains personal identifying information or sensitive personal information, as defined in Tex. Code Bus & Com. Sec. 521.001 et. seq.
  • contains offensive terms that target protected classes
  • is threatening, harassing or discriminatory
  • incites or promotes violence or illegal activities
  • contains information that reasonably could compromise public safety
  • advertises or promotes a non-affiliated commercial product or service, or any entity or individual
  • promotes or endorses political campaigns or candidates
  • violates a trademark, copyright or other law

Privacy

A&M System members or State employees are permitted to only post public information on social media sites. If communication that takes place on A&M System sites involves or requires private information, communication will be redirected through other appropriate channels. Postings from the public on A&M System or its members’ social media sites become public record and may be shared on A&M System websites. This information may be subject to public information requests. For more information, please refer to the A&M System Public Information Act Compliance policy at http://policies.tamus.edu/61-01.pdf and the policies of our members and agencies.

The A&M System and its members and agencies are not responsible for content posted by others to its social media sites. Users that enter personal information on its social media sites do so at their own risk. The A&M System is not responsible for the public display of such private information. The A&M System and its members and agencies may remove postings to its social media sites that contain personally identifiable information, but neither the A&M System, nor its licensors or contractors are responsible for any damages caused by delays in such removal.

Public Information Act (Public Information Act, Texas Government Code Chapter 552) and Record Retention

Social media sites may contain communications sent to or received by state employees, and such communications are therefore public records subject to State Records Retention requirements. These retention requirements apply regardless of the form of the record (digital text, photos, audio, or video, for example). The A&M System and its members and agencies will put forth reasonable efforts to archive copies of social media content in order to meet State records retention obligations in accordance with the DIR Records Retention Schedule (Outdated link).

Terms of Service

Social media sites are third party sites and have terms of service and policies that are not governed by the A&M System or the State of Texas. These third party sites are not official A&M System web sites and the third party’s website terms of service and policies apply. Services provided by us on third-party social networking services, communication services, or media sharing services may be discontinued at any time without prior notice. The terms of service for the social media sites can be found below: