Southold's new social media policy restricts comments in virtual meetings

Southold officials have enacted a social media policy designed to limit disruptive or hateful comments during virtual meetings following a pair of recent incidents where racist comments were posted during public meetings.

Supervisor Scott Russell said the town now turns off nearly all functions — including the question and answer option — for town meetings open to the public. Any comments or questions must now come through a raised-hand function available on Zoom, he said.

All speakers or people wishing to ask questions or comment must identify themselves first, and the Zoom administrators can cut off participants at any time if they don’t follow guidelines or make any inappropriate comments.

"We realize this may restrict public participation with this exciting new technology but, like any technology, some will abuse the opportunities it offers," Russell said.

The new policy changes were prompted by comments made during the town board’s Jan. 4 work session. An unidentified individual made several racist remarks and death threats in the comments section on Zoom. The meeting marked the first for new board members Greg Doroski and Brian Mealy, the latter being the first Black person to hold office in Southold. Another incident happened during a Dec. 20 meeting of the town’s Anti-Bias Task Force, when an unidentified individual posted anti-Black slurs in the comments section of the Zoom platform.

Southold Police Chief Martin Flatley said Thursday that his department considers the Jan. 4 town incident — which is still under investigation — a "hate incident" rather than a hate crime.

Because the statements posted were of a general nature and not threatening toward a specific individual, Flatley said that made it more difficult to classify the incident as a hate crime under New York State penal law.

"To elevate it to a hate crime, it has very specific parameters it has to fit into as far as the penal law, and at this point in time, we are looking at it as a hate incident, but it is not over and done with," Flatley said. "It’s still being investigated by the district attorney’s office and we’re waiting to hear back from them as to whether they have any difference of opinion or if they have any other avenue to move forward with this on."