SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio officials have agreed to amend the city’s social media policy, after a national free speech group called out Animal Care Services for hiding hundreds of comments from its public Facebook page.
“As a city agency, Animal Care Services can’t censor speech because it doesn’t like the viewpoint being expressed or to insulate itself from criticism,” said Aaron Terr, director of public advocacy for the Foundation of Individual Rights and Expression, or FIRE.
Terr’s organization this summer filed a records request for a copy of all Facebook comments hidden or deleted by ACS over a one-month period of time, after receiving complaints from multiple commenters.
The hidden comments handed over included one calling the agency a “disgrace” and another that referred to ACS as a slaughterhouse, records show.
Last month, FIRE sent a letter to ACS Interim Director Michael Shannon ostracizing the agency for hiding more than 400 …