Polk County commissioners will vote Tuesday at 9 a.m. on a resolution to switch off public comments on every official county social media account.

Commissioner Bill Braswell introduced the proposal, citing comment threads overrun with false claims, personal attacks, and vulgarity. County officials say the clutter has defeated the pages’ purpose: to give residents reliable information, especially during emergencies and road closures.

Residents would keep their voice at the source. Public comment periods at official county meetings would continue, so anyone with a complaint or a question can address commissioners in person.

The plan has drawn attention from a national free speech group, but not the kind of opposition critics might expect. Brennen VanderVeen, program counsel for public advocacy at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), said residents may be disappointed to lose the online outlet, but the county is within its legal rights to close it. In his view, government has no duty to host a forum for public opinion, and it may decide that running one no longer serves the community.

That matters because FIRE has taken a harder line on how governments police comments while a forum stays open. In a separate September letter, the group argued that the Polk County Sheriff’s Office social media rules, which allow removal of “offensive” or “inappropriate” remarks, are too vague to survive First Amendment scrutiny. Closing the comment section outright sidesteps that kind of dispute.

The resolution would not affect the Sheriff’s Office or Polk County Animal Control pages, which the county government does not directly control.

It is not yet clear how many comments or specific incidents prompted the proposal.

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