Every day, counties across Tennessee communicate with the public on social media. Every comment, reply, reaction and post could be a public record. Are you confident you could produce them tomorrow if asked?
In Tennessee, social media content created or received in the course of official county business is legally considered a public record. Under the Tennessee Public Records Act (T.C.A. § 10-7-101 et seq.), that definition extends to posts, comments, replies, reactions, edits, deletions, and even shared images or videos.
The Office of Open Records Counsel (OORC) reinforces this obligation, making it clear that any social media activity on behalf of a county must be preserved and produced upon request.
Failing to capture social media records can expose counties to penalties, lawsuits, negative media attention, and — most damaging of all — the loss of public trust. Manual methods like screenshots aren’t enough; they miss metadata, timestamps, edits, and deletions.
That’s why Tennessee counties are turning to Brolly. Purpose-built for government, Brolly automatically captures every interaction, applies secure retention, and makes records export-ready — keeping you compliant while safeguarding your reputation.
Brolly goes beyond basic archiving – giving counties a complete, compliant, and proactive solution that captures every record, prevents risks, and delivers insights to strengthen community trust.
Brolly ensures every social media interaction – posts, comments, edits, deletions, and attachments – is automatically captured. With complete metadata, timestamps, and digital checksums preserving chain of custody, counties can fulfil TPRA requests in minutes through one-click exports to PDF, CSV/JSON, and media files.
The Tennessee Open Meetings Act demands openness and accountability in government. Because today’s public discussions often happen on social media, Brolly provides the defensible archive counties need to uphold transparency, protect trust, and demonstrate compliance with state law.
Tennessee’s Public Records Act requires timely responses to citizen requests. Brolly streamlines fulfilment by allowing PRRCs and records staff to run saved searches, apply filters for edits and deletions, and export complete packages (PDF, CSV/JSON, and media) in seconds – cutting response times from days to minutes.
Every day your county communicates on social media, you’re creating public records. Are you confident you could produce them tomorrow?
With Brolly, Tennessee counties can:
Counties face increasing legal discovery, audit reviews, and public scrutiny. Brolly provides a complete, immutable record of social media activity – with full metadata, edit/delete history, and chain-of-custody logs.
This ensures your county can confidently respond to audits, litigation, or appeals with defensible evidence that stands up in court or under investigation.
Brolly doesn’t just archive records – it actively protects your county by detecting harassment, hate speech, threats, and misinformation in real time. Identify potential safety risks to staff, officials, and residents, and take proactive steps to safeguard your community and reputation.
Turn community conversation into actionable intelligence. With Brolly, you can track recurring concerns, measure positive engagement and outreach effectiveness, and give leaders real-time dashboards that support smarter, data-driven decisions.
Brolly’s security features are engineered to meet rigorous compliance and data protection standards.
✅ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certified Information Security Management System
✅Trust & Security Centre
✅ End-to-end encryption (in transit & at rest)
When it comes to TPRA compliance and community protection, manual methods and generic tools fall short. Here’s how Brolly gives Tennessee counties the certainty, speed, and security they need.
Book a 20 minute call to learn how Brolly provides social media archiving that protects your records, ensures you’re compliant with recordkeeping and data privacy laws and can save your social media and record management teams hours of effort each week.
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State records quick reference
A quick reference for Tennessee counties and public agencies managing official social media. Requirements depend on the content, context, applicable retention schedules and any statutory exceptions.
Content created or received by a Tennessee public agency in connection with official business may qualify as a public record regardless of whether it appears in email, a document or a social media platform. The content and context matter, and statutory exceptions may apply, so agencies should follow their records policies and obtain legal guidance for specific requests.
The Tennessee Public Records Act calls for prompt access when practicable. When records cannot promptly be made available, the records custodian generally must respond within seven business days by producing the records, denying the request with the legal basis, or providing an estimated production timeframe. Agencies should confirm the current procedure with the Office of Open Records Counsel.
Moderating a comment does not by itself determine whether the underlying content is a public record. If the content was created or received in connection with official business, the agency should apply its approved retention schedule and records policy before deletion and preserve the context needed to search for and produce the record.
A useful archive should preserve the original content together with timestamps, account identity, media, comments, edits, deletions and relevant metadata. Keeping those elements searchable and exportable helps records staff respond consistently without relying on incomplete screenshots or manual copying.
General information only, not legal advice. Confirm current requirements with your records officer or legal counsel.
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