City of Mount Dora Creates Controversy with New Social Media Policy

MOUNT DORA, Florida—A new social media policy enacted by the City of Mount Dora is creating quite a stir.

Officially beginning Friday, comments are no longer permitted on any of the city’s social media pages, according to posts on the city’s official Facebook page and Mount Dora Police Department’s Facebook page Wednesday.

The posts (identical on both pages) stated, “To better serve City of Mount Dora residents and visitors, we have made the conscious decision to turn off the commenting and messaging features on all of our social media accounts beginning Friday, January 27th, 2023. Moving forward each of our posts will include ways to connect with us directly based on the nature of the post. We are excited to be able to serve you more quickly and more efficiently. If you have any questions please feel free to reach out to us @ [email protected] or via phone @ (352) 735-7100 ext 1102. Thank you for your continued support!”

But residents and visitors aren’t buying it. Dozens of people have posted in popular local “word of mouth” Facebook groups and on their personal social media pages expressing their displeasure at the new policy. Ironically, comments were disabled for that post, despite it stating the policy would begin Friday.

Jennifer Etter, administrator of Mount Dora Florida Word of Mouth Facebook group will no longer allow the city to post in the group.  

“Censorship at its finest. Guess they don’t like hearing people express their feelings. From now on, I’m making the conscious decision to revoke their ability to post anything related to their office in this group, including fundraising and events. Sounds fair,” Etter posted when she shared the post from MDPD.

In a later comment, Etter, said, “They’re upset because they’re being held accountable. Disabling the comments is their version of “we won’t be held accountable if you can’t voice an opinion.”

The decision comes after three recent Facebook posts by Mount Dora Police Department that garnered more than 300 comments each, most of them unfavorable.  

Inside Lake asked City of Mount Dora Spokesperson Vershurn Ford several questions Friday morning, including the following:

“Why the new policy? Is it because the last three posts by Mount Dora Police Department (before the policy change) garnered more than 300 comments each, most of them unfavorable?” Inside Lake asked by email.

Ford responded, “With many different electronic formats to allow residents and visitors options to connect with us, we felt it was in our best interest here at the City to focus on those other formats. The City maintains social media accounts for many reasons, however, the main focus for us are to communicate policy, city-related services, changes in services, public notices and upcoming events, just to name a few. We will continue providing these elements.”

We asked Ford, “Many people are unable to make city meetings because of conflicting work and family obligations; doesn’t the city feel like this is silencing their voice and the city will lose opportunities for feedback to make the city better?”

Ford said, “Residents and visitors are always welcome to connect with us via phone, email, text and or by general inquiry on our website. The ways to connect with us are endless. We never want people to miss out on City meetings, but we get that life happens,” he said. “On our website we stream city meetings live and moments after, a copy is available for download.”

Etter disagrees, “I am anti-censorship as an American and I think censorship on social media has gotten out of control. People have a right to voice their concerns and as the admin for this group (Mount Dora Florida Word of Mouth,) I am not happy that they have chosen to censor their readers in an effort to thwart public scrutiny for their actions, whether positive, negative or perceived. People have a right to do so. They also have a right to peacefully protest…and they may not have a voice in public office or feel that they have any power otherwise to make a difference. Silencing them by closing comments is cowardly if they do not choose to face public opinion.”

 Inside Lake also asked who created this policy and did not receive an answer.

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