U.S. Marine Corps 2021 Social Media Handbook

U.S. Marine Corps

2021

SOCIAL

MEDIA

HANDBOOK

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 3

COMMUNICATION STRATEGY AND OPERATIONS (COMMSTRAT) ................................... 4

GUIDANCE FOR COMMAND SOCIAL MEDIA ..................................................................... 5

OFFICIAL USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR MARINE CORPS COMMANDS .......................................5

POLICY .................................................................................................................................................5

DECIDING IF SOCIAL MEDIA IS RIGHT FOR YOUR COMMAND ....................................................6

IF SOCIAL MEDIA IS RIGHT FOR YOUR COMMAND ........................................................................7

ALTERNATIVES ................................................................................................................................... 8

PROCEDURES FOR ESTABLISHING A COMMAND SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT ...........................9

ACCOUNT SECURITY ........................................................................................................................10

BLOCKING ..........................................................................................................................................11

INTERACTING WITH THE PUBLIC ................................................................................................... 11

GUIDANCE FOR COMMANDERS ........................................................................................14

SETTING THE STANDARD FOR ONLINE CONDUCT ....................................................................14

PERSONAL ACCOUNTS ....................................................................................................................14

GUIDANCE FOR ALL MARINES ........................................................................................15

PARTICIPATING IN ONLINE CONVERSATIONS ..............................................................................15

YOUR FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS ................................................................................................17

POLITICAL ACTIVITY ........................................................................................................................18

REPORTING IMPROPER BEHAVIOR ...............................................................................................19

OPERATIONS SECURITY (OPSEC) ..................................................................................................19

BE A CYBER SENTRY ...................................................................................................................... 22

GUIDANCE FOR FAMILIES ............................................................................................... 25

MEDIA LITERACY .............................................................................................................................. 26

SO, WHAT IS FAKE NEWS? ............................................................................................................. 26

GUIDANCE SUMMARY ..................................................................................................... 28

ONLINE INFORMATION MANAGEMENT AND ELECTRONIC MESSAGING ................................ 28

POLITICAL ACTIVITIES BY MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES .............................................. 30

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE (DOD) PERSONNEL CASUALTY MATTERS, POLICIES, AND

PROCEDURES ....................................................................................................................................31

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY PUBLIC AFFAIRS POLICY AND REGULATIONS .........................31

INTRODUCTION

This handbook will familiarize you with policies, guidance,

and recommendations on how you can become a more

eective communicator and representative of the Marine

Corps — creating an environment where trusted information

is shared with our Marine Corps family and the public.

Social media, when used eectively, presents unequaled opportunities

to share our Marine Corps story in an authentic, transparent, and rapid

manner — while building more substantive relationships with people you

may not have reached through traditional communication channels.

At the same time, the open, global nature of social media creates challenges and

presents operational and cybersecurity considerations and concerns regarding

online conduct, including cyberbullying, harassment, and privacy concerns. Careful

decisions on the best platforms to use will ensure you convey the relevant information

via the most eective means as platforms rapidly adapt, age-out, or emerge.

Social media is only one part of a command’s public aairs program. Marine leaders

need to work with their Communication Strategy and Operations (COMMSTRAT)

team to decide whether social media is appropriate for their command; not every

command needs to use social media. If you decide social media would beneﬁt your

command, evaluate each platform to determine where your eorts will have the most

impact; you don’t need to use every platform. Additionally, if you can’t maintain your

ocial web presence, it’s best not to attempt to manage a social media account

“WE MUST COMMUNICATE WITH

PRECISION AND CONSISTENCY,

BASED ON A COMMON FOCUS AND

A UNIFIED MESSAGE.”

Gen. David H. Berger, Commandant of the Marine Corps

COMMUNICATION STRATEGY

AND OPERATIONS

COMMSTRAT professionals are responsible for providing timely and accurate information

so that the public, Congress and the news media may assess and understand the facts

about national security, defense strategy, and the Armed Forces of the United States. Their

duty to inform also involves ensuring the free ﬂow of general and military information,

without censorship or propaganda, to the men and women of the Armed Forces.

Marine Corps COMMSTRAT professionals work closely with senior leaders and

unit commanders to deliver credible and relevant information to these broad

audiences through a variety of means. In doing so, COMMSTRAT personnel help

educate and inform the public on the mission of the Marine Corps, its role in national

defense, and current matters aecting Marines, Sailors, and their families.

Social media is an important tool that, when used eectively, enables individuals and

organizations to quickly share information, build and engage online communities,

and receive and assess feedback. Marine Corps COMMSTRAT personnel are

active on a variety of social media platforms and are responsible for training and

educating Marines on the proper use and techniques for online engagement.

The Communication Directorate recommends that commanders without a COMMSTRAT

section appoint a Unit Information Ocer (UIO) to serve as the direct link to the

COMMSTRAT section of the parent command. Through this relationship, COMMSTRAT

helps UIOs manage the content on the unit website, advise on social media engagement,

and attract coverage to newsworthy events involving the unit and its personnel.

Facilitating the free ﬂow of information while preserving security, respecting

privacy, and maintaining proper conduct are critical considerations for all

social media users. While COMMSTRAT personnel and UIOs can help prevent

unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information, it is the individual responsibility

of each social media user to ensure information disclosed or shared online

does not jeopardize operational security, threaten the safety or privacy of U.S.

Government personnel or their families, or violate applicable policy or law.

GUIDANCE FOR

COMMAND SOCIAL MEDIA

All ocial accounts must be public, and also identiﬁed as a government organization,

if the platform allows that identiﬁcation. These accounts are considered ocial

because they are created and managed using federal government resources (including

time, manpower, and funds). Social media managers shall be authorized by their

commanders to release ocial information on behalf of their unit and organization.

OFFICIAL USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR MARINE CORPS COMMANDS

Marine Corps social media sites are ocial representations of the Department of

the Navy (DoN) and must demonstrate professionalism at all times. While third-

party sites such as Facebook and Twitter are not owned by the DoN, there are

guidelines for the management of Marine Corps social media accounts.

POLICY

Department of Defense Instruction (DoDI) 8550.01, released Sept. 11, 2012, discusses

the use of Internet-based capabilities (IbCs), such as social media, and provides

guidelines for their use. The instruction acknowledges IbCs are integral to operations

across the Department of Defense (DoD). It also requires the NIPRNet be conﬁgured

to provide access to IbCs across all DoD components while balancing beneﬁts and

vulnerabilities. By deﬁnition, IbCs don’t include command or activity websites.

DoDI 8550.01 requires that all ocial social media presences be registered. Ocial Marine

Corps social media sites need to be registered at https://www.marines.mil/News/Social-Media.

SECNAVINST 5720.44C Change 1, Department of the Navy Public Aairs

Policy & Regulations, provides policy for the ocial and unocial

(personal) use of social media, and for the content and administration

of ocial Marine Corps presences on social media, to include:

ADMINISTRATORS:

Commands shall designate administrators

for ocial use of IbCs in writing. The

administrator is responsible for ensuring

postings to the IbCs comply with content

policy. Commands permitting postings

by others must ensure the site contains

an approved user agreement delineating

the types of information unacceptable

for posting to the site and must remove

such unacceptable content. At a minimum,

the DoN’s current social media user

agreement is required, available at ht tps://

www.marines.mil/News/Social-Media/.

LOCAL PROCEDURES:

Commands must develop written

local procedures for the approval

and release of all information posted

on command ocial use of IbCs.

SECURITY:

Commands will actively monitor and

evaluate ocial use of IbCs for compliance

with security requirements and for

fraudulent or unacceptable use.

PRIMARY WEB PRESENCE:

A command or activity IbC presence may

not serve as the DoN entity’s primary web

presence, and must link to the primary

web presence - the command ocial

website. (This means, if your unit does

not have its own ocial website, it cannot

have its own ocial social media.)

PROHIBITED CONTENT:

Commands and activities shall not publish

and shall prohibit content such as:

• Personal attacks; vulgar, hateful,

violent or racist language; slurs,

stereotyping, hate speech, and other

forms of discrimination based on any

race, color, religion, national origin,

disability, or sexual orientation.

• Information that may engender

threats to the security of Navy

and Marine Corps operations

or assets or to the safety of DoN

personnel and their families.

CORRECTIONS TO PREVIOUS POSTS:

If correcting a previous post by

another contributor on an IbC

presence, such posting is done in a

respectful, clear and concise manner.

Personal attacks are prohibited.

ONLINE ADVERTISING:

With very few exceptions, ocial accounts

may not pay to boost, promote tweets, or

take similar action on content — whether

on social media platforms, websites,

apps or any similar venues. According

to the Federal Acquisition Regulation,

advertising is deﬁned as “the use of

media to promote the sale of products or

services.” Consult your command’s sta

judge advocate and/or contracting ocer

for exceptions and additional information.

DECIDING IF SOCIAL MEDIA IS RIGHT FOR YOUR COMMAND

Communication is commanders’ business; commanders are responsible for communicating

to Marines and their families. Social media is not a magic wand for all your communication

needs. Not every command needs a social media presence. It is far better not to start a social

media site than to use it ineectively and abandon the site. Additionally, if you can’t maintain

your ocial website, it’s not recommended you to attempt to manage a social media account.

Before launching a social media presence, consider what you want to accomplish. What are

your communication objectives and how do they move your command closer to achieving

its mission? Is the level of transparency required in social media appropriate for your

command and its mission? You also should consider your command’s priority publics

and use the right social media platform to reach them. Do you want to communicate with

your Marines, Sailors, Marine civilians, command leadership, family members, the local

community, a broader DoD audience, or another group altogether? Do you have the content

and personnel — both now and long term — to routinely engage with those publics?

Additionally, if your command already has a social media presence, you should routinely ask

yourself the above questions to ensure it remains an eective communication tool. If it isn’t,

take the opportunity to address the underlying issues using the best practices in this handbook.

Don’t create social media presences for individual missions, exercises,

and events. Instead, coordinate with relevant commands and provide

them content that is optimized — both written and visually.

PRIVATE/CLOSED GROUPS.

Not recommended for units. Units should not be publicly releasing information

that cannot be seen by all. Closed, private, and unlisted social media groups may

sound appealing since they appear to oer a sense of privacy; however, never

assume anything on the internet is truly private. People can screenshot and

share information from the private/closed group with a wider audience.

IF SOCIAL MEDIA IS RIGHT FOR YOUR COMMAND

HAVE A STRATEGY.

What do you want to do with your account? It may be:

• Share unit updates (for example,

“Marines recently concluded training

in 29 Palms where they reﬁned X, Y,

and Z skills.” Best practice: Make the

post once the movement/evolution

is complete, i.e. share what the unit

did, not what the unit is going to do.)

• Highlight accomplishments (awards,

promotions, retirements, etc.)

• Amplify media coverage, when

appropriate. (Did media or

COMMSTRAT cover your event or one

of your Marines’ accomplishments?

Share the coverage on your account.)

• Interact with speciﬁc publics. (If

you are considering online “town

halls” or Q&A sessions, be prepared

to answer the tough questions.)

- Use your authentic voice. (Communicate ocial positions and facts, not opinions or emotions.)

- Answer questions and respond to comments, but don’t engage trolls (see page 12).

- Interact regularly — at least twice a week. (Engagement depends on

the platforms, i.e., for Twitter you should post 1-2 times a day.)

- Don’t chase clicks or likes, or try to “go viral”. Content that goes

viral more often than not does not align with core values.

- Connect with other Marine Corps leaders and commands; support their content when

appropriate. Leverage existing discussions as an entry point for your messages.

ADVERSE INCIDENTS

The time to start using social media is not during a crisis. To build credibility, you need

to establish a social media presence before then. The better you are at providing

good information and engaging your audience, the faster your following will grow.

The best course of action during a crisis is to leverage existing social media presences.

If you have a regularly updated channel of communication before a crisis, then your

audiences will know where to ﬁnd information online. Do not make your audience

search for information. For example, if your command is preparing for severe

weather, tell your audience where they should go for the latest information.

CASUALTIES

When personnel are killed or injured/wounded, it’s hard to control the ﬂow of information

distributed through social media platforms. Reporters may look at command, Marine,

Sailor, civilian and/or family members’ social media to get more information. It’s

important that privacy settings be regularly reviewed to be as restrictive as practical.

It’s vitally important to know that the identity of a casualty should not be discussed on

social media until it’s been released. No casualty information on deceased military or

DoD civilian personnel may be released to the media or the general public until 24 hours

after the notiﬁcation of the next of kin. In the event of a multiple-loss incident, the start

time for the 24-hour period commences upon the notiﬁcation of the last family member.

ALTERNATIVES

If your command wants to share information or content privately, social media is not

your solution. Social media is never the right venue for sharing sensitive information.

If you have sensitive information you want to limit to a speciﬁc group, consider

one of the Marine Corps’ private portals that require a Common Access Card.

If the information or content is to be shared only with family members,

consider using a dial-in family line or conveying it through the deployment

readiness coordinator (DRC), emails, or family readiness group meetings.

If the information or content is to be shared with the local community, but the command is not

subordinate to Marine Corps Installations Command, contact the base COMMSTRAT ocer.

If you have information or content that does not regularly

change, consider the command’s public website.

PROCEDURES FOR ESTABLISHING

A COMMAND SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT

STEP 1

Is the social media site (or Internet-based

capability) free or paid? If free, continue to

step 2. If paid, speak with your local Regional

Contracting Oce. The RCO is responsible

for coordinating Federal-compatible terms

of service agreements for paid products.

STEP 2

Ensure the social media site has a

Federal-compatible terms of service

agreement. Your SJA and contracting oce

representative can assist with validating this

requirement. [Ref: https://go.usa.gov/xnG7A]

STEP 3

Obtain approval from your Commanding

Ocer or Public Aairs Ocer

(COMMSTRAT). The release authority must

approve an ocial social media site before

it can be registered. [Commanding Ocers

have release authority for their unit only.]

STEP 4

Obtain an appointment letter, in writing,

from the Commanding Ocer (or

individual with by direction authority)

designating you as an administrator for

the ocial use of the social media site.

[Ref: SECNAVINST 5720.44C CH-1]

STEP 5

It is recommended that an organizational

mailbox be established before a

government employee registers the

new social media site for purposes of

providing a non-user speciﬁc method of

managing the new social media account.

STEP 6

A government employee registers the

new social media account and accepts the

the Federal government and command.

STEP 7

USMC social media directory at

https://www.marines.mil/News/Social-

Media after it has been established.

STEP 8

Ensure a posted disclaimer is published

on your new social media site identifying

the site as an ocial site and disclaiming

any endorsement. Ensure the terms

of participation and posting guidelines

are published (or linked to) from

your social media site. [Ref: Sample

disclaimer, terms and guidelines are

available at https://go.usa.gov/xADpy]

STEP 9

Establish a social media inspection log

or spreadsheet to provide documentation

that you inspected all posted content to

ensure compliance with the permitted

content policy outlined in SECNAVINST

5720.44C CH-1. In accordance with MCO

3070.2A, the command must inspect the

social media site’s posts for compliance

at least quarterly. [Ref: MCO 3070.2A]

STEP 10

It is encouraged that you provide your

command COMMSTRAT with access

to your social media site to assist with

management and monitoring of posted

content. In the event of inadvertent

disclosure of prohibited content,

COMMSTRAT will be able to take immediate

action on behalf of the command.

ACCOUNT SECURITY

FACEBOOK

Ocial Marine Corps Facebook pages must be attached to individuals’ Facebook

proﬁles. Don’t use a generic Facebook proﬁle; this frequently leads to commands

losing access to their pages. Instead, your designated page administrator will use

his or her personal Facebook account to manually authorize speciﬁc Facebook

users to manage the ocial page. The administrator should grant access to

multiple users to minimize the chance of permanently losing access to the

page. Once the individual is granted access, updates to the command’s Facebook

page will be posted as the command’s page and not the individual’s proﬁle.

What’s often blamed on social media hacking is rooted in poor account

management: easy-to-guess passwords; passwords that aren’t changed

regularly or after personnel depart; or lazy device security, such as unlocked

computers or mobile devices. Fortunately, these risks can be mitigated.

Even if your password is strong, adversaries may still be able to gain access to

your accounts through weak privacy options or third-party access. Carefully look at

your security options on each platform to minimize the possibility of unwanted entry.

Providing a third-party app or plug-in access to one of your social media accounts

can seem like a good idea, but if one of those third-party apps is compromised, your

account likely will be as well. Many of those apps and plugins are written by unknown

third parties who may use them to access your data and friends. Be conservative

about granting third-party apps access, and diligently review who has access to

your accounts and eliminate apps you aren’t familiar with or no longer use.

If you suspect your command’s account has been hijacked or vandalized, follow these steps:

Timing is critical in these initial minutes.

• Complete a support request through

the social media site. Simultaneously,

notify your higher command’s

COMMSTRAT and your command’s

security ocer. Then, immediately

contact Communication Directorate at

703-614-8010 and request assistance

from the digital media team.

• Change all other social media

passwords. Even if you think the

security breach is limited to the

one account, it’s prudent to change

the passwords of all other social

media accounts. If you’ve lost control

of other accounts, contact those

platforms immediately as well as

Communication Directorate. You

should also change the passwords

on your personal accounts.

• If you don’t have access to

your account yet, use other

accounts to alert your online

community of the breach.

• Once you’ve regained control of your

account, change your password

and screen shot the unauthorized

content before deleting it.

BLOCKING

The Marine Corps may not block individual social media accounts from ocial

Marine Corps social media sites; however, the Marine Corps may delete comments

that constitute a violation of law, regulation, or the Marine Corps’ Terms of

Use. The Marine Corps may also refer oensive comments to the Social Media

Service Provider to consider enforcement of their own Terms of service.

The First Amendment does not permit a public ocial who utilizes a social media account

for all manner of ocial purposes to exclude persons from an otherwise open online

dialogue because they expressed views with which the ocial disagrees. That said, not

all speech is protected under the First Amendment. From 1791 to the present, examples

include obscenity, defamation, fraud, incitement, and speech integral to criminal conduct.

Comments posted on ocial Marine Corps social media sites that

constitute a violation of law, regulation or the Marine Corps’ Terms of

Use may be removed if not needed for evidentiary purposes.

Comments posted by service members that constitute a violation of law or regulation

should be referred to the command of the service member who posted the

comment or the cognizant DoD law enforcement agency for appropriate action.

Comments posted on ocial Marine Corps social media sites that constitute a violation

of the Terms of service of the Social Media Service Provider may be referred to the

Service Provider for their own review and possible enforcement of the Terms of service.

Has someone discovered a post

about the organization?

Is it positive or balanced?

A factual and well-cited response,

which may agree or disagree

with the post, yet it is not factually

erroneous, a rant or rage, bashing

or negative in nature. You can

concur with the post, let it stand

or provide a positive review.

Do you want to respond?

CONCURRENCE

Avoid responding to speciﬁc

posts, monitor site for relevant

information and comments.

Notify headquarters.

“TROLLS”

MONITOR THE SITE

Is this a site dedicated to

bashing and degrading others?

Is the posting a rant, rage,

joke or satirical in nature?

“RAGER”

“MISGUIDED”

Are there erroneous facts in

the posting?

Is the posting a result of a

negative experience?

“UNHAPPY CUSTOMER”

Let the post stand—no

response.

Do you wish to proactively share

your story and your mission?

Write responses for current

circumstances only. Will you respond?

Do you wish

to respond with factual

information directly?

FIX THE FACTS

Do you wish to rectify the

situation and act upon a

reasonable solution?

RESTORATION

TRANSPARENCY

Disclose your Marine

Corps connection.

SOURCING

Cite your sources by

including hyperlinks,

images, video, or other

references.

USMC SOCIAL MEDIA

RESPONSE GUIDE

DISCOVER

EVALUATE

RESPOND

SOCIAL MEDIA POSTING

YES

TIMELINESS

Take time to create

sound responses.

Don’t rush.

TONE

Respond in a tone that

reﬂects highly of the

Marine Corps

standards.

INFLUENCE

Focus on the most

appropriate sites

related to the

Marine Corps.

YES

FINAL EVALUATION

RESPONSE CONSIDERATIONS

SHARE SUCCESS

LET IT STAND

INTERACTING WITH THE PUBLIC

Do not friend, follow, or like public users proactively; however, your unit

may accept friend requests from public users. Exceptions can be made for

following other U.S. federal, state, local, and tribal government agencies,

professional associations, or other organization as appropriate.

BOTS

A bot is an automated account run by software capable of posting

content or interacting with other users. Some bots pretend to be humans,

while others don’t. Bots are especially prevalent on Twitter.

In February 2018, Twitter announced changes to its Application Programming

Interface that would reduce the ability of services that allow links and content to

be shared across multiple accounts, which would aect bots. Yet, bots continue

to proliferatle. Be aware that some bots are part of a botnet, or a network of

bots that tweet in a coordinated manner. These bots often share the same

verbatim tweets and sometimes operate to get speciﬁc hashtags trending.

POTENTIAL INDICATORS OF BOTS

• ANONYMITY.

The less personal information

available on account, the more likely

it belongs to a bot. Look for user

names that seem to contain too

many numbers and generic proﬁle

photos. Perform a reverse image

search to see if multiple accounts

use the same proﬁle photo.

• ACTIVITY.

Bots frequently engage in suspicious

activity. A bot account may have

only one tweet with a very high

level of engagement, or send out a

large number of tweets in a short

period of time. Divide the number of

tweets by the number of days the

account has been active to see how

frequently it posts. According to the

Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic

Research Lab, more than 72 tweets

per day is suspicious, and over 144

tweets per day is highly suspicious.

• AMPLIFICATION.

Most bots exist to amplify content.

On a typical bot timeline, there will

be lots of retweets, word-for-word

copied-and-pasted headlines, and/

or shares of news stories without

additional comment. There is little

original content on a bot account.

You can report bot accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. If you’re

inundated with comments from bot accounts on a particular post, consider posting

one comment with factual information and a source to dispel disinformation.

GUIDANCE FOR COMMANDERS

SETTING THE STANDARD FOR ONLINE CONDUCT

As a Marine leader, you must lead by example. You must show your Marines,

Sailors, and Marine civilians that improper or inappropriate online behavior is not

tolerated and must be reported if experienced or witnessed. When it comes to your

position, your conduct online should be no dierent from your conduct oine, and

you should hold your Marines, Sailors, and civilians to that same standard.

Understanding how Marines conduct themselves on social media is critical to providing

guidance on how to behave and what expected standards are. Always consider:

• How often do you

emphasize appropriate

online behavior?

• Have you asked

COMMSTRAT personnel

to provide social

media training?

• Are you prepared to

respond to a public,

negative incident

created by one of your

Marines’ inappropriate

online behavior?

• Do your family members

understand how to be

safe and appropriate

on social media?

• Talk about OPSEC so

your Marines and Sailors

understand what can

and cannot be shared.

If evidence of a violation of command policy, Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), or civil law

by one of your Sailors or Navy civilians comes to your attention from social media, then you can

act on it just as if it were witnessed in any other public location. Additionally, pursuant to Marine

Corps regulations, you have an armative obligation to act on UCMJ oenses you observe.

This adds an ethical wrinkle to friending or following your subordinates; the key is for you to

maintain the same relationship with them online as you do at work, and to be clear about that.

PERSONAL ACCOUNTS

In addition to the guidance provided to all Marines below, note that your

position lends additional authority to your posts. Carefully consider the level

of detail used when posting information anywhere on the internet.

Reinforce OPSEC best practices, such as limiting the information you post about yourself,

including names, addresses, birthdates, birthplaces, local towns, schools, etc. Small

details can be aggregated to reveal signiﬁcant information that could pose a threat.

Additionally, adversaries can see what you post. They can give extra weight to what information

you share based on your current position. For example, if you are the CO of unit X, and you know

your unit will soon receive new equipment, and you post about it on social media (Facebook,

LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.)…you have assisted the adversary’s intelligence collection activities.

GUIDANCE FOR ALL MARINES

In general, the Marine Corps views social media sites positively, and respects your rights

as Americans to use them to express yourself. That acknowledged, by the nature of your

profession, you are always on the record and you represent our core values. You are a

Marine 24-hours a day and 365 days a year. Even if you state you are not representing

the Marine Corps, you can be perceived as doing so because you are a Marine.

What happens online stays online and can have real-

world impacts in the moment and years after.

When you’re online, you’re in public — so act like it. Don’t do or say anything online

you wouldn’t do or say in public. Keep relationships and personal life private. Treat

everyone online how you’d like to be treated. The “Golden Rule” applies even online.

There’s no such thing as complete anonymity online. “My user name is B@

sMrinEvr, no one will ﬁgure out who I am.” Wrong. The people you know will

recognize you. Google, Amazon, and other online services designed to capture

your online habits to optimize your experience may recognize you.

Before you hit send, stop and think. The things you say matter. Images can be taken out

of context. Cool o before responding to messages in anger. You’ll never agree with

everyone online. Respect others’ opinions. Anyone, anywhere could see what you post.

The internet doesn’t forget. It’s very easy for bad actors to save a screenshot, download

an image, or do something else to make sure a moment online lasts an eternity. Anything

shared online, although intended to be private and conﬁdential, has the possibility to

become public — if it’s best left unsaid, don’t say it. If you don’t want it shared, don’t post it.

Protect your privacy and your friends’ privacy too by not sharing without their permission.

Unless you’re prepared to attach that post, text, or photo to your next college application,

security clearance package, or resume, again, stop and think before you post.

Anything posted on the internet is permanent. Through the use of publicly

available online tools, data can be recovered and used against you.

PARTICIPATING IN ONLINE CONVERSATIONS

GENERAL RULES.

You are personally responsible for what you say and post on social networking services

and any other medium. Consider how a post can be interpreted by the public. Be cautious

about crossing the line between funny

and distasteful. If you have doubts about

whether you should post something,

err on the side of caution. Maintain

appropriate communication and conduct

with ocer and enlisted personnel, peers,

superiors and subordinates (to include

civilian superiors and subordinates).

NO CLASSIFIED INFORMATION.

Do not post classiﬁed or sensitive

information (for example, troop

movements, force sizes, weapons

details, etc.) If in doubt, ask. Security is

at the source. Pay attention to what’s

in the background of photos/videos.

REPLACE ERRORS WITH

FACTS, NOT ARGUMENTS.

When you see misrepresentations made

about the Marine Corps in social media,

you may certainly point out the error. Do

so with respect and with the facts. When

you speak to someone with an adversarial

position, make what you write/say factual

and not disparaging. Avoid arguments.

ADMIT MISTAKES.

Be the ﬁrst to respond to your own

mistakes. If you make an error, be up front

about your mistake and correct it quickly.

AVOID THE OFFENSIVE.

Do not post defamatory, libelous, vulgar,

obscene, profane, threatening, racially and

ethnically divisive, or otherwise oensive

or illegal information or material.

WRITTEN PERMISSION.

Do not post any information or other

material protected by copyright without the

written permission of the copyright owner.

TRADEMARKS — DON’T BREACH.

Do not use any words, logos, or other

marks that would infringe upon the

trademark, service mark, certiﬁcation

mark, or other intellectual property

rights of the owners of such marks

without the permission of the owners.

DON’T VIOLATE PRIVACY.

Do not post any information that

would infringe upon the proprietary,

privacy, or personal rights of others.

AVOID ENDORSEMENTS.

Do not use the Marine Corps name to

endorse or promote products, opinions, or

causes. This includes posting responses

to online challenges while in uniform or

other attire that identiﬁes you as a Marine.

DON’T SOLICIT.

No Marine may solicit gifts or prizes for

command events in any capacity — on

duty, o duty or in a personal capacity.

NO IMPERSONATIONS.

Do not forge or otherwise manipulate

identiﬁers in your posts in an attempt

to disguise, impersonate, or otherwise

misrepresent your identity or aliation

with any other person or entity.

Impostor accounts violate most social

media platforms’ terms of service.

IMPOSTER ACCOUNTS.

Help us search for impostors and report

them to the social media platform. The

impersonation of a senior Marine

Corps ocial, such as a general ocer

or a commanding ocer, should also

be reported, via your COMMSTRAT

channels, to Headquarters Marine

Corps, Communication Directorate.

USE DISCLAIMERS.

Identify to readers of personal social

media accounts that the views you

express are yours alone and that they

do not necessarily reﬂect the views of

the Marine Corps. Use a disclaimer such

as, “The postings on this site are my own

and don’t necessarily represent Marine

Corps positions, strategies, or opinions.”

STAY IN YOUR LANE.

Discussing issues related to your personal

experiences is acceptable, but do not

discuss areas of expertise for which you

have no background or knowledge.

DON’T LIE.

Credibility is critical, without it, no one

cares what you have to say. It’s also

punishable by the UCMJ to

give a false statement.

LINK.

You may provide a link from your

accounts to a Marine Corps site.

USE COMMON SENSE.

This is the bottom line. If you don’t want

to read about it/see it in the news or

be asked about it by people whom you

respect — don’t say it, don’t do it, don’t

post it. Your words and images can go

out to thousands and possibly millions of

people around the world instantly, and

once it’s out there, it’s out there for good.

Don’t go viral for the wrong reasons.

YOUR FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS

Marines and Sailors using social media are subject to the UCMJ and Marine Corps/

Navy regulations at all times, even when o duty. Commenting, posting, or linking

to material that violates the UCMJ or Marine Corps/Navy regulations may result

in administrative or disciplinary action, to include administrative separation,

and may subject Marine Corps civilians to appropriate disciplinary action.

Applicable UCMJ and federal criminal law violations include, for example:

Applicable to Members of the Armed Forces

• Article 82. Solicitation

• Article 88. Contempt toward ocials

• Article 89. Disrespect toward superior commissioned ocer

• Article 91. Insubordinate conduct toward warrant ocer,

noncommissioned ocer, or petty ocer

• Article 92. Failure to obey order or regulation

• Article 117. Provoking speeches or gestures

• Article 134. General Article

Applicable to All Persons

• 18 U.S.C § 2385. Advocating overthrow of the Government

• 18 U.S.C § 2387. Activities aecting the Armed Forces generally

• 18 U.S.C § 2388. Activities aecting the Armed Forces during war

Service members may not actively advocate supremacist, extremist, or criminal gang

doctrine, ideology, or causes, including those that advance, encourage, or advocate illegal

discrimination based on race, creed, color, sex, religion, ethnicity, or national origin.

Service members may not advance, encourage, or advocate the use of force, violence, or

criminal activity or otherwise advance eorts to deprive individuals of their civil rights.

Per MCO 5354.1E — Marine Corps Prohibited Activities and Conduct Prevention

and Response Policy, Marines are prohibited from engaging in harassment (to

include sexual harassment); unlawful discrimination, and abuse (speciﬁcally, hazing,

bullying, ostracism, retaliation (with the exception of restriction and reprisal);

wrongful distribution or broadcasting of intimate images; and, certain dissident and

protest activity (to include supremacist activity). This includes online conduct.

POLITICAL ACTIVITY

Marines may generally express their personal views about public issues and political

candidates on internet sites, including liking or following accounts of a political party

or partisan candidate, campaign, group, or cause. If the site explicitly or indirectly

identiﬁes Marines as on active duty (e.g., a title on LinkedIn or a Facebook proﬁle photo),

then the content needs to clearly and prominently state that the views expressed are

the Marine’s own and not those of the U.S. Marine Corps or Department of Defense.

Marines may not engage in any partisan political activity such as posting direct links

to a political party, campaign, group, or cause on social media — this is considered

equivalent to distributing literature on behalf of those entities, and is prohibited.

Similarly, as a leader, you cannot suggest that others like, friend

or follow a political party, campaign, group or cause.

Marines should be aware of the limitations that exist when it comes to participation

in political activity as well as DOD support to political campaigns.

ACTIVITY PERMITTED PROHIBITED

PARTICIPATE IN ANY INTERVIEW OR DISCUSSION AS AN ADVOCATE

FOR OR AGAINST A PARTY, CANDIDATE, OR CAUSE.

GENERALLY EXPRESS YOUR PERSONAL VIEWS ON PUBLIC ISSUES OR

POLITICAL CANDIDATES VIA SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS MUCH THE SAME

AS IF YOU WROTE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR OF A NEWSPAPER.

PARTICIPATE IN PARTISAN POLITICAL ACTIVITY

FOLLOW, FRIEND, OR LIKE A POLITICAL PARTY OR

CANDIDATE RUNNING FOR PARTISAN OFFICE.

POST OR SHARE CONTENT FROM A POLITICAL PARTY OR

CANDIDATE RUNNING FOR PARTISAN OFFICE

COMMUNICATE CONTEMPTUOUS WORDS AGAINST THE PRESIDENT, VICE

PRESIDENT, DEFENSE SECRETARY, DEFENSE DEPUTY SECRETARY,

SERVICE SECRETARIES, OR GOVERNOR AND LEGISLATURE OF ANY

STATE WHERE YOU ARE LOCATED OR PERFORMING DUTY.

REPORTING IMPROPER BEHAVIOR

Anyone who experiences or witnesses incidents of improper

online behavior should promptly report it.

Reports can be made to the chain of command. Additional avenues for reporting

include Equal Employment Opportunity oces, the Inspector General, Sexual Assault

Prevention and Response oces and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

NCIS encourages anyone with knowledge of criminal activity to report

it to their local NCIS ﬁeld oce directly or via web or smartphone

app at https://www.ncis.navy.mil/Resources/NCIS-Tips/.

OPERATIONS SECURITY

OPSEC violations commonly occur when personnel share information with people

they don’t know well or if their social media accounts have loose privacy settings.

A good practice is to limit the information you and your families post including

addresses, birthdates, birthplaces, local towns, schools, etc. Small details can

be aggregated to reveal signiﬁcant information that could pose a threat.

When posting, ask yourself what could a person do with this information?

Could it compromise my safety or the safety of my family or my unit?

DO DON’T

Turn o geotagging and location-based

services. (Geotagging adds location-

based information to content such

as photographs, videos, websites,

and messages. It is the equivalent of

adding a 10-digit grid coordinate. Some

devices and services may automatically

embed geotags into content.)

Post details about your unit’s mission

or security procedures, or announce

locations and times of deployments.

Maximize your security settings and

use two-step veriﬁcation, if available.

Default security and privacy settings

may change — with or without notice, so

frequently review your desired settings.

Release information about the death

or injury of a service member before

the information is ocially released.

Next of kin should not learn of deaths

or grievous injuries from social media.

Post images of damaged

equipment or gear.

Closely review content before posting

to ensure sensitive or personal

information is not released (e.g. troop

locations, equipment, tactical unit

details, and numbers of personnel).

Share personnel transactions (e.g.

pay information, power of attorney,

wills, or deployment information).

Post unit morale or personnel issues.

ACCOUNT SECURITY

UPDATES.

Keep your technology up to date (computer, phone, tablet, etc.). Whenever

you get a software update at work or at home, run it. These are

typically patches for recent security vulnerabilities.

TRACKING.

Beware of tracking your location. Many social media platforms allow for “check in” and

share your location, or automatically add location information to photos and posts.

PUBLIC WIFI.

Avoid using public WiFi. With a public internet connection, you run the risk of being hacked.

If you must use a public Wi-Fi connection, here are some things you can do to be safer:

• Don’t shop or go to your bank

accounts on public Wi-Fi.

• Only go to sites that use a secure

connection (indicated by an

“HTTPS” in their web address).

This means they use encryption

to protect your information.

• Use a Virtual Public Network (VPN).

This — often paid-for — service

provides a more secure connection.

• If available, use two-factor

authentication. Anyone trying to

pretend to be you, won’t be able to

access your accounts because they

won’t have your phone or computer.

Set login notiﬁcations on all your accounts so when someone tries to login from

a new location, you get an email and can take proactive action if necessary.

BACKUP YOUR DATA.

Frequently backup data at home and in the workplace. Many commercial cloud and

physical storage devices will encrypt data automatically for extra protection.

PASSWORDS.

Use strong password protocols. The best password is a string of at least 12-

15 random characters containing numbers, upper- and lower-case letters and

symbols. Don’t try and remember all passwords for all platforms and devices.

Use a password manager. Don’t share passwords. Don’t use the same password

for more than one site or device. Never reuse an old password. Put passwords

on all of your devices, and put a strong password on your network at home. This

includes changing the default password on personal routers at home.

SECURITY QUESTIONS.

Answer security questions creatively. Sites often have security questions that use personal

information to help you recover or reset a password. For example, hackers can deduce

the answers from social media accounts to make attempts at changing an individual’s

password, locking them out, and stealing valuable data. You can make this harder by either

giving a dierent response to the question or padding your response with something

no one knows but you, such as adding a special character at the end of a response.

BE A CYBER SENTRY

There are many tactics people may use to trick others into providing information

or granting access to that information through social networking venues.

Once information is posted to a social networking site, it is no longer private. The

more information you post, the more vulnerable you may become. Even when

using high security settings, friends or websites may inadvertently leak your

information. Personal information you share could be used to conduct attacks

against you or your associates. The more information shared, the more likely

someone could impersonate you and trick one of your friends into sharing personal

information, downloading malware, or providing access to restricted sites.

Predators, hackers, and foreign state actors troll social networking sites

looking for information or people to target for exploitation. Information

gleaned from social networking sites may be used to design a speciﬁc

attack that does not come by way of the social networking site.

Although, not exhaustive, below are some of these tactics and

suggested ways to mitigate online social networking risks.

BAITING

Someone gives you a USB drive or other electronic media that is preloaded with

malware in the hope you will use the device and enable them to hack your computer.

Do not use any electronic storage device unless you know its origin is

legitimate and safe. Scan all electronic media for viruses before use.

CLICK-JACKING

Concealing hyperlinks beneath legitimate clickable content which, when

clicked, causes a user to unknowingly perform actions, such as downloading

malware, or sending your ID to a site. Numerous click-jacking scams have

employed Like and Share buttons on social networking sites.

Disable scripting and iframes (another webpage inserted so it appears

to be one page) in whatever Internet browser you use. Research

other ways to set your browser options to maximize security.

CROSS-SITE SCRIPTING (XSS)

Malicious code is injected into a benign or trusted website. A Stored XSS Attack is when

malicious code is permanently stored on a server; a computer is compromised when

requesting the stored data. A Reﬂected XSS Attack is when a person is tricked into

clicking on a malicious link; the injected code travels to the server then reﬂects the attack

back to the victim’s browser. The computer deems the code is from a “trusted” source.

Turn o “HTTP TRACE” support on all webservers. Research

additional ways to prevent becoming a victim of XSS.

DOXING

Publicly releasing a person’s identifying information including full name, date of birth,

address, and pictures typically retrieved from social networking site proﬁles.

Be careful what information you share about yourself, family, and friends (online, in print,

and in person). Soliciting for personal information can take innocent forms, such as, “See

what your band name is” followed by a graphic showing random words next to months and

dates. You post what your “band name” is and now everyone knows your date of birth.

ELICITATION

The strategic use of conversation to extract information from people

without giving them the feeling they are being interrogated.

Be aware of elicitation tactics and the way social engineers

try to obtain personal information.

PHARMING

Redirecting users from legitimate websites to fraudulent ones for the purpose

of extracting conﬁdential data. (E.g.: mimicking bank websites.)

Watch out for website URLs that use variations in spelling or domain names, or use “.com”

instead of “.gov”, for example. Type a website’s address rather than clicking on a link.

PHISHING

Usually an email that looks like it is from a legitimate organization or person, but is not and

contains a link or ﬁle with malware. Phishing attacks typically try to snag any random victim.

Spear phishing attacks target a speciﬁc person or organization as their intended victim.

Do not open email or email attachments or click on links sent from people you do not know. If

you receive a suspicious email from someone you know, ask them about it before opening it.

PHREAKING

Gaining unauthorized access to telecommunication systems.

Do not provide secure phone numbers that provide direct access to a Private Branch

Exchange or through the Public Branch Exchange to the public phone network.

SCAMS

Fake deals that trick people into providing money, information, or service in exchange

for the deal.

If it sounds too good to be true, it is most likely a scam. Cybercriminals

use popular events and news stories as bait for people to open infected

email, visit infected websites, or donate money to bogus charities.

SPOOFING

Deceiving computers or computer users by hiding or faking one’s identity.

Email spooﬁng utilizes a sham email address or simulates a genuine

email address. IP spooﬁng hides or masks a computer’s IP address.

Know your co-workers and clients and beware of those who impersonate a

sta member or service provider to gain unit or personal information.

GUIDANCE FOR FAMILIES

As a family member, you are integral to the success of the Marine Corps. Without

your support, Marines wouldn’t be able to accomplish the great work they do

every day. The Marine Corps stories you share on social media help maintain

the morale of Marines and educate the public about the Marine Corps.

To use social media safely, it’s important for Marines and their families to identify and

safeguard critical information about military operations. Be cautious about sharing

personal information or communicating with people over social media. Posting too

much information could jeopardize the security of Marines and missions. If you

wouldn’t want to see the information on the news, do not post it on the internet.

Social content shared by Marines and families is a target for those looking to gain

access to sensitive information in order to impersonate, blackmail, or intimidate.

Don’t post the exact whereabouts and activities of deployed Marines.

Be general about the dates and locations concerning a Marine’s trip arrival and departure.

Don’t publicly post exactly how long your Marine will be gone on a trip or deployment.

Don’t make your vacation dates public on social networks. Criminals may track your

activities and know exactly when to break into your home while you’re on vacation.

Be careful about publicly posting children’s photos, names, schools, ages, and schedules.

Let children know they should seek help for cyber-bullying.

You’re encouraged to use social media to engage in support networks, such as

spouse’s clubs, event committees, child care groups, or local civic activities. These

groups are not considered ocial Marine Corps social media, and you don’t need

permission to form a group of your own. You may want to limit the membership

and visibility of the group to help protect the information exchanged. Even if the

membership and visibility is limited, never discuss sensitive information online.

You may also want to follow the main Marine Corps social media accounts or

your local installation’s accounts for the latest information on the work your

Marine does. You can help support their speciﬁc missions by sharing their

social media content and experiences with your followers and friends.

MEDIA LITERACY

This section is adapted from Cornell University Library’s “Fake News, Propaganda and

Misinformation: Learning to Critically Evaluate Media Sources” (2020) and includes excerpts from it.

There is no shortage of information, and accuracy can be hard to gauge. Misinformation

is unintentionally inaccurate. Disinformation is intentionally inaccurate. Critical thinking

skills are the best defense against mis/disinformation. It is important for Marines to be

critical consumers of information, to not fall for disinformation campaigns, to recognize

when misinformation may be present, and to not contribute to the spread of either.

BE CURIOUS.

Independently verify the source and the information. Is more than one source

reporting the same thing, or is this the only place you have seen the information?

BE REFLECTIVE.

Pause, reﬂect, and investigate — especially if you immediately have an

emotional reaction, which is the primary goal of fake news producers.

ACTIVELY INVESTIGATE YOUR NEWS SOURCES.

Select news sources known for high-quality, investigative reporting.

Search for these sources directly. Social media algorithms present

information that reinforces your current views, not a balanced view.

LOOK FOR IN-DEPTH COVERAGE.

Look for lengthy articles — long-form reporting — that capture some of the

complexity of topics and events. One or two paragraphs is not sucient.

USE CARE BEFORE SHARING NEWS CONTENT ON SOCIAL MEDIA.

Pause and reﬂect on news sources that arouse strong emotions, positive or negative.

SO, WHAT IS FAKE NEWS?

Fake news is fabricated information, which mimics news media content in form,

but not in organizational process or intent. It overlaps with other information

disorders, such as misinformation (false or misleading information) and

disinformation (false information that is purposely spread to deceive people).

In order to be media literate, you need to be aware of other questionable sources of information:

• Deepfakes use software to create

events that never happened or

distort a person’s statements.

• Satire uses humor, irony, exaggeration,

ridicule, satire, and false information

to comment on current events.

• State-sponsored news is often

the source of propaganda in

repressive states operating

under government sanctions.

• Junk science promotes discredited

conspiracy theories, naturalistic

fallacies, and scientiﬁcally

false or dubious claims.

• Clickbait provides generally

credible content, but uses

exaggerated, misleading, or

questionable headlines, social media

descriptions, and/or images.

HOW TO SPOT FAKE NEWS

CONSIDER THE SOURCE

Click away from the story

to investigate the site, its

mission and its contact info.

READ BEYOND

Headlines can be outrageous

in an eort to get clicks.

What’s the whole story?

CHECK THE AUTHOR

Do a quick search on the author.

Are they credible? Are they real?

SUPPORTING SOURCES?

Click on those links. Determine if the

info given actually supports the story.

CHECK THE DATE

Reposting old news stories

doesn’t mean they’re relevant

to current events.

IS IT A JOKE?

If it is too outlandish, it might

be satire. Research the site

and author to be sure.

CHECK YOUR BIASES

Consider if your own beliefs

could aect your judgement.

ASK THE EXPERTS

Ask a librarian or consult

a fact-checking site.

GUIDANCE SUMMARY

DOD INSTRUCTION 8170.01.

ONLINE INFORMATION MANAGEMENT AND ELECTRONIC MESSAGING.

(2 JANUARY 2019) HTTPS://WWW.ESD.WHS.MIL/PORTALS/54/

DOCUMENTS/DD/ISSUANCES/DODI/817001P.PDF

ENDORSEMENTS

Do not imply DoD endorsement in any manner for any speciﬁc non-

U.S. Government service, facility, event, or product.

Do not accept remuneration of any kind (e.g., payment, reimbursement,

reduced prices, gifts) in exchange for advertising, acknowledgement,

or endorsement without speciﬁc authority to do so.

SURVEYS

Information collection via online surveys, forms, or other solicitations is

subject to DoD 5240.1-R and 7750.07-M, DoDD 5148.13, DoDIs 1000.30,

1100.13, 7750.07, and 8910.01, DoD Manual 5240.01, and Chapter 91 of Title

15, U.S.C., as applicable to the intent or target audience of the collection.

Speciﬁc applications of these regulations are governed by distinct policies and

guidelines. The April 7, 2010 OMB Memorandums provide speciﬁc additional guidance

to help determine when a collection is governed by or subject to the named sources.

Proper attribution must be made for all copyrighted material.

Post a clear disclaimer detailing the copyrights retained by USG or non-USG

contributors and identify the speciﬁc copyrighted work(s) (e.g., information,

image, video, sound, design, code, template, service, technology) when

placing copyrighted material on electronic messaging services.

ALTERING IMAGERY

Do not alter ocial DoD imagery beyond the allowances speciﬁed in DoDI 5040.02.

HYPERLINKS

Use hyperlinks only to information or services related to the performance of the DoD

component’s function or mission and the purpose of the electronic messaging service.

Verify all external hyperlinks to ensure continued provision of the hyperlink

quality (i.e., correct address and objectivity, utility, and integrity of the

content) intended by the DoD Component and expected by users.

External Hyperlink Disclaimer

“The appearance of hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the U.S. Marine

Corps of non-U.S. Government sites or the information, products, or services contained

therein. Although the [insert sponsoring organization] may or may not use these sites

as additional distribution channels for Department of Defense information, it does not

exercise editorial control over all of the information that you may ﬁnd at these locations.

Such hyperlinks are provided consistent with the stated purpose of this website.”

OFFICIAL USE OF NON-DOD-CONTROLLED ELECTRONIC MESSAGING SERVICES

Do not use non-DoD-controlled electronic messaging services to process nonpublic DoD

information, regardless of the service’s perceived appearance of security (e.g., “private”

Instagram accounts, “protected” tweets, “private” Facebook groups, “encrypted”

WhatsApp messages).

When engaging in ocial use of non-DoD-controlled electronic messaging services,

DoD organizations should:

• Limit use of non-DoD-controlled

electronic messaging services

to supplemental communication

only. Do not establish or represent

ocial-use accounts or pages as

primary sources of DoD information.

• Organizations should provide

individuals with comparable

alternatives to non-DoD controlled

electronic messaging services

through the organization’s ocial

website or other ocial means. For

example, members of the public

should be able to learn about the

organization’s activities and to

communicate with the organization

without having to join a third-

party social media website.

• If an organization uses a non-DoD-

controlled electronic messaging

service to solicit feedback, i.e. ask

for any information, the organization

should provide an alternative

government e-mail address where

users can also send feedback.

If the DoD chief information ocer has not signed a Terms of Service

agreement for a non-DoD-controlled electronic messaging service, establish

a Terms of Service agreement signed at the DoD component level.

The GSA provides Terms of Service templates appropriate for federal

government use, which are available at https://www.digital.gov, that must

be adapted for DoD use if available for the desired service.

PERSONAL USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

DoD personnel may establish non-DoD-controlled electronic

messaging accounts for personal, nonocial use.

Personal, nonocial accounts may not be used to conduct ocial DoD

communications for personal convenience or preferences.

DoD personnel may use personal, nonocial accounts to participate in activities

such as professional networking, development, and collaboration related to, but

not directly associated with, ocial mission activities as DoD personnel.

When conducting personal, nonocial communication, DoD personnel must:

• Avoid the distribution and discussion

of nonpublic information or the

appearance of ocial sanction.

• Not disclose nonpublic information,

or unclassiﬁed information that

aggregates to reveal sensitive

or classiﬁed information.

DoD personnel should use non-mission related contact information, such as

personal telephone numbers or postal and e-mail addresses, to establish

personal, nonocial accounts, when such information is required.

DoD personnel who are acting in a private capacity have the First Amendment right

to further release or share publicly-released unclassiﬁed information through non-

DoD forums or social media provided that no laws or regulations are violated.

DoD personnel will not post comments or material that denigrates

another military or civilian member of the DoD team.

DODD 1344.10.

POLITICAL ACTIVITIES BY MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES.

(19 FEBRUARY 2008) HTTPS://WWW.ESD.WHS.MIL/PORTALS/54/

DOCUMENTS/DD/ISSUANCES/DODD/134410P.PDF

Members on active duty should not engage in partisan political activity.

Activities not expressly prohibited may be contrary to the spirit and intent of this

directive. Any activity that may be reasonably viewed as directly or indirectly

associating the DoD or any component with a partisan political activity or is

otherwise contrary to the spirit and intention of this directive shall be avoided.

DODI 130018P.

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE (DOD) PERSONNEL CASUALTY MATTERS,

POLICIES, AND PROCEDURES. (14 AUGUST 2009) HTTPS://WWW.ESD.

WHS.MIL/PORTALS/54/DOCUMENTS/DD/ISSUANCES/DODI/130018P.PDF

No casualty information on deceased military or DoD civilian personnel

may be released to the media or the general public until 24 hours after

notifying the NOK regarding the casualty status of the member.

Casualty information on ill or injured Service members or DoD civilians

may not be released without the consent of the individual.

SECNAVINST 5720.44C.

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY PUBLIC AFFAIRS POLICY AND

REGULATIONS. (21 FEBRUARY 2012)

IMAGERY

All content posted to publicly-accessible internet presences, including graphics,

photos, video, and multimedia productions, must be carefully reviewed to ensure

it meets the standards and requirements for the public release of information.

CAPTIONS

All graphics, photos, video, and multimedia content posted on publicly-

accessible DoN internet presences must have a VIRIN and a caption.

PROHIBITED CONTENT AND LINKS

Applies to content and posts on all DoN publicly-accessible internet presences,

including but not limited to, command or activity websites, command or activity

presences on IbC platforms, and posts made in one’s ocial capacity to IbC

presences not owned or managed by the DoN, command, or activity.

• Classiﬁed material, “For Ocial Use Only” information, proprietary information, pre-

decisional information, any other form of sensitive but unclassiﬁed (SBU) information,

or information that could enable the recipient to infer this type of information.

This includes, but is not limited to, lessons learned or maps with speciﬁc

locations of sensitive units, ship battle orders, threat condition proﬁles,

etc., activities or information relating to ongoing criminal investigations into

terrorist acts, force protection levels, speciﬁc force protection measures

being taken or number of personnel involved, plans of the day or month.

• Information protected by the Privacy Act of 1974 or the Health Information

Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPPA). Personally identiﬁable

information other than the name, rank or rate, assigned unit (if appropriate

for release), and home state of individual service member or civilian employee

of the DoN. Other than in ocial news releases or stories, such identiﬁcation

shall only be made to indicate the single point of contact for a provided

service, or when indicating an author of a document, report, or study.

• Identiﬁcation of immediate family members of DoN personnel by name,

including in imagery captions, except for a spouse of a senior leader who

is participating in public events such as a ship naming, commissioning, etc.

Family member information will not be included in any online biographies.

• Unit or other personnel lists and rosters, charts or directories,

which provide the names, addresses, e-mail addresses, and/

or telephone numbers of individual unit members.

• Information, other than authorized press releases, about casualties prior to

ocial conﬁrmation that next of kin has been notiﬁed and a competent authority

authorizes publication of speciﬁc casualty information. Commanders are reminded

that casualty information is to be tightly controlled and heavily scrutinized.

• Information, other than authorized press releases, regarding

events or incidents currently under investigation.

• Copyrighted and trademarked material used without the written

permission of the copyright or trademark holder.

• Material that is political in nature or that endorses or promotes products,

opinions, or causes other than those already ocially endorsed by the DoN.

• Any content that may imply endorsement, including links to advertising, promotions,

solicitations, or endorsements of products, non-government services, of a political

nature, or to commercial entities, charities, or causes. Links to the Combined Federal

Campaign and/or the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society are permitted and encouraged.

• Per DoDI 1015.10, Morale Welfare and Recreation (MWR) activities are

allowed to promote and advertise MWR programs, activities and events,

and conduct MWR commercial sponsorship and advertising.

• Commercial software or links to commercial software for download except in those

cases where the software is unique and required for viewing documents provided

within the website’s purpose. In these cases, only a text link directly to the vendor’s

download web page is permitted. The use of corporate logos is prohibited.

• Advertisement for, or sales of, materials or services, such as for an online ship’s

store selling command memorabilia, ball caps, etc. Commercial sponsorship or

advertisements shall not be displayed on publicly accessible MWR and Marine Corps

Community Service (MCCS) web presences except as provided in paragraph (9) above.

• Links to additional information regarding MWR sponsored events hosted on non-“.mil”

domains shall not be displayed on publicly-accessible MWR and MCCS web presences,

but may be included on pages accessible only to authorized MWR and MCCS patrons.

• Linking disclaimers when linking to the website of a

local, state, or federal government entity.

• Links to the homepages of websites of private sector news media,

magazines, publishers, or radio or television stations.

• Links to commercial or copyrighted maps.

• Installation maps displaying the locations of operational commands or force protection

facilities. The use or copying of commercial and/or copyrighted maps is prohibited.

PERMISSIBLE CONTENT AND LINKS

• Links to information under the purview of and posted to

other military or U.S. Government websites.

• General telephone numbers and non-personalized email addresses for commonly-

requested resources, services, and contacts, without individuals’ names.

• The names, telephone numbers, and personalized ocial e-mail

addresses of command and activity COMMSTRAT personnel and/

or those designated by the commander as command spokespersons

may be included in otherwise non-personalized directories, etc.

• Biographies published will not include date of birth, age, current

residential street address, or any information about family members.

Place of birth, if desired to be included, will be presented as “… is a

native of…”. Ocial portraits must be head and shoulders only.

• Due to the public nature of their duties, internet presences may include the ocial

biographies and portraits of: Flag ocers, commanders, commanding ocers,

ocers in command, executive ocers or deputies, the civilian equivalents of

those ocers just listed, and command master chief petty ocers and senior

enlisted advisors or Marine Corps master gunnery sergeants or sergeants major.

• Copyrighted and trademarked material used with written permission

from the copyright or trademark holder related directly to the command’s

primary mission and must be clearly marked that the material is under

their ocial duties and posted to a command internet presence may not be

copyrighted, nor may a DON internet presence itself be copyrighted.

• To speciﬁc articles about the DON command or activity in traditional

and online media when such linking would be reasonably seen as

not an endorsement of the entity to which the link is made.

USE OF MARINE CORPS TRADEMARKS

The Marine Corps reserves the right to review, screen, or license any USMC-themed

private-sector product or advertisement to ensure the proposed usage upholds the

dignity and reputation of the USMC and to ensure such use does not subject the Marine

Corps to discredit or adversely aect the health, safety, welfare, or morale of members

of the Marine Corps, or is otherwise objectionable, per Marine Corps Order 5030.3B.

The use of Marine Corps trademarks by third parties for any purpose, including

reproduction on merchandise, is expressly prohibited unless the producer enters

into a license agreement with, or is otherwise granted permission by, the Marine

Corps. Use is governed by the terms of the license agreement (10 U.S.C. §2260).

Except for trademark licenses or other grants of permission, DoD and Marine

Corps policy and regulations prohibit use of ocial Marine Corps markings and

symbols in ways that imply endorsement of a commercial entity or activity.

PRODUCED BY

HEADQUARTERS, MARINE CORPS COMMUNICATION DIRECTORATE

PRODUCTION AND ENGAGEMENT

703-614-1887 | socialmedia@usmc.mil

U.S. MARINE CORPS

2021 SOCIAL MEDIA HANDBOOK