According to the Wyoming Public Records Act, government agencies are required to preserve public records regardless of their physical form, including social media records. This means that such records are subject to disclosure requests under the law.
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ARTICLE 2 – PUBLIC RECORDS
16-4-201. Definitions.
(v) “Public records” when not otherwise specified includes any information in a physical form created, accepted, or obtained by the state or any agency, institution or political subdivision of the state in furtherance of its official function and transaction of public business which is not privileged or confidential by law. Without limiting the foregoing, the term “public records” includes any written communication or other information, whether in paper, electronic, or other physical form, received by the state or any agency, institution or political subdivision of the state in furtherance of the transaction of public business of the state or agency, institution or political subdivision of the state, whether at a meeting or outside a meeting;
The Wyoming State Archives, which oversees the management and preservation of public records in the state, provides guidelines to records officers that specify electronic records, including social media content, fall under the definition of public records in Wyoming. This indicates that social media records in Wyoming are subject to the Wyoming Public Records Act.
ELECTRONIC RECORDS
Electronic records include databases, E-mail, text messages, e-government transactions, and social media, in addition to common office files from spreadsheet and word processing applications. Most are useful for only a short period of time, but some may need to be kept permanently.
The City of Cody in Wyoming has put into effect a Social Media Access and Acceptable Use Policy, which offers extensive guidelines for the city's social media use. The policy explicitly states that any posts made on social media platforms are to be viewed as public records and thus must adhere to the requirements of the Wyoming Public Records Act. This policy serves as an excellent model for managing social media records in Wyoming.
Acceptable Use
Posts to social media platforms are to be considered a public record, regardless of abilities to remove or hide content. Content published on the World Wide Web can be transparently reposted, rebroadcasted, or saved by other users without consent or acknowledgement.
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