Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Georgia
I am the moderator for a social media site for our gated community. I was also recently appointed to be on the community's board of directors. The social media site is NOT controlled, or sanctioned, by our HOA, even though only homeowners of our gated community may join the site. The group members HATE the "official" message board on the HOA website because it doesn't allow interaction, no discussions, no photos can be shared, it is not moderated at all, there's no one to monitor any posts after business hours or on weekends, and it's sometimes months between posts. There's probably only been 30 messages posted on there in over a year. Whereas on our group site, it is constantly busy with people conversing about things, and forming clubs for the community, planning get togethers, posting about lost and found pets, etc. It is actually a way for the homeowners to interact with each other and there are over 800 members posting on the site daily!
Our board president HATES our social media group. He thinks of it as a "gossip site" and hates it because "rumors" get started on it and rather than provide the homeowners the FACTS (which he could do!) he just lets the rumors grow and grow regardless of how much it upsets the community!
Anyway, he had our corporate attorney come up and talk to the board yesterday to answer questions we may have. And according to the attorney, we, as board members must close our accounts on ALL social media sites immediately, but especially that particular group! He states "anything we do or say on social media has legal implications because we are board members even if we are speaking on our own behalf. If we comment on something or close a discussion and that person decides to sue we are liable personally and as board members. Plus the courts can seize our computers to retrieve records"
I've definitely refused to shut down my personal Facebook account that I've had for 10 years since that's how I keep in touch with family and friends but can the board force us to shut down our accounts on other sites, especially the group that I moderate?
Thank you so much for your advice.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Some things get lost in translation. There is often a concern that lawsuits are filed, and what people say or do reflects on the organization. If the lawyer made a blanket statement that all board members of all HOA's should always shut down their social media accounts, and not post on forums, the lawyer is either very incompetent or lying. You should not be concerned about it. Maybe the lawyer was trying to address a real issue about content posted on the website, and it was something that could be a real issue for the board or HOA.
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