Communications (messages, posts, photographs, videos, and other formats) submitted or received using Social Media Tools are considered public records and are subject to State Records Retention requirements. Social media communications will be classified as the record series titled “Social Networking Communications” as defined in the DIR Records Retention Schedule.
Suspension of Records Disposition (Legal Holds): Notwithstanding the record retention of content applicable to Social Media Tools, a state record may not be destroyed if any litigation, claim, negotiation, audit, open records request, administrative review, or other action involving the record is initiated before the expiration of a retention period for the record set by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission or in the approved records retention schedule of the agency until the completion of the action and the resolution of all issues that arise from the action, or until the expiration of the retention period, whichever is later (Texas Government Code (TGC), 441.187).
Content on a Social Media Tool that meets the TGC 441.180 (11) definition of a state record and is not a duplicate record, transitory, or retained elsewhere must be captured by the Administrator and maintained for the full retention period of the appropriate record series. The program area will be responsible for selecting the method of record archiving and purging subject to approval by the DIR Records Management Officer.
