Attachment

er vit 48. NIH, like many other public entities both at the federal and state levels,5 publishes guidelines for commenting on its social media accounts. NIH has had guidelines in place for moderating content on its social media pages since as early as November 2012. 49. NIH's current, operative comment guidelines--which were posted online on March 30, 2015--"encourage" members of the public "to share [their] thoughts and ideas [on] any other website owned or administered by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) where commenting is supported." https://www.nih.gov/news-events/social-media-outreach/nih-comment-guidelines. However, the guidelines state that those pages "are not intended to serve as public forums." Id. The guidelines further state that since "NIH utilizes moderated blogs, comments submitted for consideration are not immediately visible" and "are reviewed before they can be posted to ensure compliance with the[] guidelines." Id. The guidelines impose a number of restrictions on user comments to "encourage respectful and constructive dialogue." Id. The guidelines thus prohibit comments that include, among other things, "[v]ulgar, obscene, profane, threatening, or abusive language," "[d]iscriminatory language," "[e]ndorsements of commercial products," "[r]epetitive posts," "[s]pam," and "[o]ff-topic" content. Id. A copy of the comment guidelines is attached hereto as Exhibit [X]. See, e.g., https://oklahoma.gov/omes/services/information-services/social-media-networking-policy-andstandards.html; https://www.mass.gov/social-media-policy; https://www.doh.wa.gov/Newsroom/SocialMedia#commenting; https://www.oregon.gov/odot/Pages/Social-MediaComment-Policy.aspx; https://hcpf.colorado.gov/social; https://doa.alaska.gov/resources/socialMediaPolicy.html; https://www.insurance.nd.gov/social-media-policy; https://www.iowa.gov/policies#social; https://www.lexingtonky.gov/social-media-public-comment-policy; https://mn.gov/dhs/generalpublic/policies/social-media.jsp; https://www.slideshare.net/USArmySocialMedia/social-media-policy-draft-for-usarmy-units; https://www.epa.gov/web-policies-and-procedures/epa-comment-policy; https://response.restoration.noaa.gov/social-media-comment-policy; https://www.commerce.gov/about/policies/comments; https://blog.dol.gov/commentpolicy? ga=2.39562787.1629666848.1639021870-935653092.1639021870; https://www.blm.gov/media/socialmedia/commenting-policy; https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/usda-comment-policy.