WWillowdale City Council
4281.2k
Social media archiving for California counties, cities & agencies
California: respond promptly — and within 10 calendar days.
Every comment, reply, reaction and post your agency touches could be a public record under the California Public Records Act (CPRA). Brolly keeps the record ready before the request arrives.
CountiesCitiesSchool districtsUtility districts
The Deadline
A request lands Monday morning.
What happens next?
Manual methods like screenshots miss metadata, timestamps, edits and deletions — and scrambling to pull posts from multiple platforms manually is not a process that fits inside a 10-calendar-day window.
1Request inA citizen asks for every post and comment about a recent decision — including anything deleted.
2ScopingWhich accounts? Which platforms? Which date range? The inventory alone takes a day.
3SearchingManual trawling across Facebook, X and Instagram begins.
4ReviewingScreenshots have no metadata. Platform exports miss comments. Gaps appear.
5RedactingExempt material needs review — but the record set still isn't complete.
6CompilingFormats don't match. The deleted reply that matters most is simply gone.
7FinalizingAssembly continues while the statutory clock keeps running.
8ScopingWhich accounts? Which platforms? Which date range? The inventory alone takes a day.
9SearchingManual trawling across Facebook, X and Instagram begins.
10DueThe statutory window closes. Silence or indefinite delay is itself a violation.
That's 10 calendar days. Not "when we get around to it." With Brolly, the searching and compiling become one afternoon.
The Law
Why compliance matters in California.
Social media content created or received in the course of official business can be a public record in California. Here is what defines your obligation:
Statute
California Public Records Act (CPRA)
Gov. Code § 7920.000 et seq. (recodified from § 6250) — defines public records broadly, extending to posts, comments, replies, reactions, edits, deletions, and shared images or videos created or received in the course of official business.
Under Gov. Code § 7922.535, Determine within 10 calendar days whether disclosable records exist and notify the requester; a 14-day extension is available in unusual circumstances.
Enforcement
Courts decide disputes
California has no dedicated records ombudsman — access disputes go to court. That raises the stakes: the first independent review of your records practice may be a judge's, with attorney's fees on the line.
Transparency
Ralph M. Brown Act
Gov. Code § 54950 et seq. demands openness and accountability in government. Because public discussion now happens in comment threads, a defensible social media archive is part of demonstrating open-meetings compliance too.
Scope
What you must be able to produce
Everything below, with metadata and timestamps intact — including content edited or deleted after posting:
PostsComments & repliesReactions✎ Edits🗑 DeletionsImages & videoDirect messages
Manual methods vs. Brolly
What your agency needs
Screenshots & exports
Brolly
Capture comments & replies as they happen
Only what staff remember to save
Automatic, every channel, 24/7
Preserve edits & deletions
Gone before anyone notices
Full version history retained
Metadata, timestamps & checksums
Stripped by screenshots
Complete chain of custody
Respond inside the statutory window
Days of cross-platform scrambling
Saved search → export in minutes
Defensible in court or under audit
Unverifiable provenance
Immutable records + audit logs
See It In Action
The record is already there.
“A delight to use,” says one verified G2 review — this is the screen your records officer gets: search the archive, open the record, step through every captured version, and export.
One post, start to finish
One official update. Its captured history beside it.
This is how simple it is in Brolly: the original post, its edited versions and the surrounding public comments, reviewed together. Shown with fictional demonstration data.
01
Your agency publishes
A connected official account posts an emergency update as the situation develops.
02
The post is edited
Opening time and access details change — each captured version is retained with its timestamp.
03
A request arrives
Your team searches, reviews the chronology and exports it — checksums, audit logs and chain of custody attached.
Brolly Archive
Archive feed
Captured posts and conversations from connected accounts
All networksAll accountsAll dates
TCWillowdale County Emergency Info
86244.1k
EditedPWillowdale County Parks
61122.8k
LCedar Street Library
RRiverbend Fire & Rescue
HHarpeth Valley Schools
3 versions
TCWillowdale County Emergency Info
Storm shelter update: The community center opens at 8 p.m. 6 p.m. tonight. Bring ID and essential medication. Accessible entrance on Cedar Street.
♡ 86 ◯ 24 ◉ 4.1k ◉ 6.7k
Demonstration export prepared
Access control & audit logs
Clerks, counsel and records officers each get the access they need — and every export is logged.
Images, video & links
Media and link previews are captured with the post, so the record shows what residents actually saw.
Structured exports
PDF, CSV, HTML or JSON with timestamps and checksums attached — ready for a requester or counsel.
Built For
Every California public body.
Counties
Sheriff's offices, clerks, mayors, highway departments, election commissions — every official account, one archive.
- County-wide multi-account capture
- PRRC-ready export workflows
- Retention aligned to county schedules
Cities & Municipalities
From metro communications teams to a single town clerk running two Facebook pages — sized and priced accordingly.
- Police, fire, parks, utilities covered
- Emergency-communication preservation
- Setup in minutes
Public Agencies
School districts, utility districts, transit authorities, housing authorities and boards — all subject to the CPRA.
- Board & superintendent accounts
- Public comment threads on record
- Request-ready exports on demand
The Reference Layer
Asked by clerks, PRRCs and county attorneys.
Plain-English answers with statutory citations — the details your counsel will ask about. General information, not legal advice.
Are California government social media posts public records?
Content created or received by a California public agency in connection with official business may qualify as a public record under the California Public Records Act (CPRA), whether it appears in email, a document or a social media platform. Content and context matter, and statutory exceptions may apply, so agencies should follow their records policies and obtain legal guidance for specific requests.
What does the 10-calendar-day rule require?
Determine within 10 calendar days whether disclosable records exist and notify the requester; a 14-day extension is available in unusual circumstances. Silence or indefinite delay invites disputes, so agencies should confirm current procedures with legal counsel and be ready to produce.
Do citizen comments on our official pages count?
Generally, records received in the course of official business fall within scope — which can include comments and replies on official accounts, even ones citizens later delete. That's why capture must happen in real time.
We already take screenshots. Isn't that enough?
Screenshots miss metadata, timestamps, edit history and deletions — and can't prove they haven't been altered. Brolly's records carry digital checksums and chain-of-custody logs designed to survive legal scrutiny.
Who in our organization uses Brolly?
Typically your records custodian, clerk or records staff handle search and export; communications teams use capture and moderation day-to-day; agency attorneys pull audit logs when litigation or records disputes arise.
How quickly can a California agency get started?
Minutes: connect your accounts, confirm retention settings, and capture begins immediately. There's a free trial, and pricing scales from single-clerk towns to county-wide deployments.
Primary source: Gov. Code § 7920.000 et seq. (recodified from § 6250)
Trusted by government
Compliance made easy.
Insights made actionable.
Communities made safer.
That’s Brolly.
Purpose-built for government. Trusted by teams that protect and serve.
5.0 out of 5 starsRated on G2 by verified users
“Brolly: The total package for documentation and archiving.”
Brolly is a vital tool for our organization and is the total package for documentation and archiving needs.
Trust
Security your procurement team can sign off on.
Brolly is ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certified and CSA STAR registered, with controls aligned to NIST SP 800-53. Records are encrypted in transit and at rest, stored immutably, and covered by complete audit trails.
ISO/IEC 27001:2022Certified information security management system.
CSA STAR registeredListed on the Cloud Security Alliance STAR registry.
NIST SP 800-53 alignedControls aligned for public-sector security review.
Encrypted everywhereAES-256 at rest, TLS 1.2+ in transit.
99.9% uptime SLAAvailability commitment in the service agreement.
MFA & role-based accessAccess scoped to your team, with complete audit trails.
Explore more US public records guides
State-by-state guidance on social media archiving laws for government agencies.
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See how easy CPRA compliance can be.
Every day your public sector organization communicates on social media, you're creating public records. Are you confident you could produce them tomorrow?
Comply with CPRA requirements
Protect against reputational & legal risk
Deliver faster, more efficient public service
A 20-minute walkthrough of Brolly — no obligation. Setup takes minutes.
Consultation is free, no commitment — records officers welcome.