Snowy field with hay bales in southern Minnesota near Rochester
The Four States NPR News Source
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Pittsburg State is closed today (2/19) due to severe weather.

Boone County Sheriff's Office turns off social media comments

App logos for Facebook, left, and X, formerly known as Twitter, are seen on a mobile phone in Los Angeles, Saturday, March 16, 2024. The Supreme Court is taking up a dispute Monday, March 18, between Republican-led states and the Biden administration over how far the federal government can go to combat controversial social media posts on topics like COVID-19 and election security. The case involves posts on Facebook, X and other media platforms.
Paula Ulichney
/
Associated Press
App logos for Facebook, left, and X, formerly known as Twitter, are seen on a mobile phone in Los Angeles, Saturday, March 16, 2024. The Supreme Court is taking up a dispute Monday, March 18, between Republican-led states and the Biden administration over how far the federal government can go to combat controversial social media posts on topics like COVID-19 and election security. The case involves posts on Facebook, X and other media platforms.

The Boone County Sheriff’s Office has disabled comments on its social media, citing issues with vulgar, accusatory, and spam posts. Officials say the department aims to maintain transparency while curbing misuse.

The Boone County Sheriff’s Office has turned off the comment sections of its social media accounts. According to a Facebook post from Dec. 8, the department said it noticed vulgar and accusatory comments to other users, as well as several spam comments.

Captain Brian Leer is the Public Information Officer for the Boone County Sheriff’s Office. He said most of the comments are positive, but the few that aren’t target other users. The department has had issues with managing the comment sections and decided to turn them off altogether.

“The whole point of our social media is to assist with transparency, not create a public discussion board or forum,” he said.

Leer said the administration made the decision so it can avoid misusing manpower and allowing others to be targeted. Turning off the comment section prevents them from having to discern what comments are worth keeping and which ones should be removed.

“It's just not something we want to consume our time with or create a platform to where people can go out there and slander other people, use vulgar language and just make inappropriate comments in general,” he said.

Other Columbia leaders have had similar issues. On January 10, Mayor Barbara Buffaloe turned the comments off on her social media pages. Her Facebook post cited fake accounts that impersonated residents.

Leer said the Boone County Sheriff’s Office welcomes criticism of the department’s actions and decisions. However, it does not want to provide a platform for users to attack one another.

All other parts of the department’s social media pages are enabled, including direct messages and allowing users to reshare posts. As of now, the department does not have any plans to turn the comments back on.

Copyright 2024 KBIA

Aminah Jenkins