Virginia Beach Police Department (VA): Social Media Records

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

With respect to the Facebook page located at http://www.facebook.com/VirginiaBeachPD and the Twitter account https://twitter.com/VBPDTraffic, I request the below records.

An example of what each of these records look like is attached or available at https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21579793-facebook-and-twitter-settings-examples. Examples of these records as produced by hundreds of other public entities may be found here: https://www.documentcloud.org/app?q=%2Bproject%3Asocial-media-censorship-s-45722%20sort%3A-created_at%20.

I request:

1. A copy of the full settings for the Facebook page, including records relating to the "Page Visibility," "Country Restrictions," "Age Restrictions," "Content Moderation," and "Profanity filter" settings, including any words or symbols associated with the "Content Moderation" filter. (For an example of this, see the first page of the examples at the above URL.) These records may be accessed through one of three processes:
The first option:
(a) Log in as an administrator of the page.
(b) Navigate to the Facebook page (e.g., https://www.facebook.com/VirginiaBeachPD).
(c) On the lefthand side of the page, where it says "Manage Page," scroll to "Settings," located at the lefthand side of the bottom of the page.
(d) Click "General" on the lefthand side of the page.

The second option:
(a) Log in as an administrator of the page.
(b) Go to the following URL: https://www.facebook.com/VirginiaBeachPD/settings/?tab=settings.

The third option:
(a) Log in as an administrator of the page.
(b) Navigate to the Facebook page (e.g., https://www.facebook.com/VirginiaBeachPD).
(c) Go to this URL: https://www.facebook.com/VirginiaBeachPD/settings/?tab=settings&ref=page_edit&section=download_your_page
(d) Click "Download your page"
(e) Select "HTML," "High," and "All time" in the available options.
(f) Make sure only the "Page profile information" and "Page settings" boxes are checked.
(g) Click "Request a download."
(h) When the information is ready to download, enter the password to download it.
(i) Press "confirm."
(j) Provide the files contained in the .zip file.

2. A copy of the list of banned people and pages. This record may be accessed in this manner:
(a) Log in as an administrator of the page.
(b) Navigate to the Facebook page (e.g., https://www.facebook.com/VirginiaBeachPD).
(c) On the lefthand side of the page, where it says "Manage Page," scroll to "Settings," located at the lefthand side of the bottom of the page.
(d) Click "People and other Pages" on the lefthand side of the page.
(e) On the menu labeled "People who Like this Page," select "Banned People and Pages"

3. A copy of the list of "Page Roles." This record may be accessed in this manner:
(a) Log in as an administrator of the page.
(b) Navigate to the Facebook page (e.g., https://www.facebook.com/VirginiaBeachPD).
(c) On the lefthand side of the page, where it says "Manage Page," scroll to "Settings," located at the lefthand side of the bottom of the page.
(d) Click "Page Roles" on the lefthand side of the page.

4. A copy of the lists of users blocked by the Twitter account. This list can be obtained through this process:
(a) Log into the account.
(b) Visit this URL: https://twitter.com/settings/blocked/all
(c) Visit this URL: https://twitter.com/settings/blocked/imported

5. Any policy concerning public use of or interaction with the Facebook and Twitter accounts.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Tom Nash, a citizen of Virginia, in coordination with Adam Steinbaugh.

Ms. Serrano --

Thank you for this response. From my review of the previous request (which is tracked here: ), it appears that the FOIA included a request an estimation of the amount of the total charges before fulfilling the request. That, from my view, was an exercise of the right in § 2.2-3704(F), which provides that "[a]ll charges for the supplying of requested records shall be estimated in advance at the request of the citizen." However, the invoice appears to have been presented at the same time as the responsive records, depriving the requestor of the ability to accept or decline the estimated fee. As a result, the fee should not have been charged and should not present a barrier to processing the instant request.

Best,

Adam Steinbaugh