The 2022 Special Olympics USA Games defines social media as including all forms of public, Web-based communications and expressions made public to many audiences.

Social media includes social networking sites (Facebook/Twitter/Instagram), video and photo sharing websites (Vimeo, YouTube, etc.), blogs, discussion boards/forums (Google groups, Yahoo! Groups, etc.), bookmark sites, and Linked sites.

If a request is made at any time for an athlete photo to be removed by an athlete, State Program or by Special Olympics North America (SONA), it will be done so promptly.

Special Olympics language guidelines should be followed. Language guidelines can be found on the Special Olympics fact sheet here

USA Games reserves the right to remove content, including comments, from its social media channels that meet any of the following criteria:

• Profane language or content
• Comments not typically related to the particular social media article or thread
• Comments that are derogatory in any way, including reference to race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, color, or disability.
• Posts including discussions concerning the use of alcohol, drugs, sexual behavior or bullying
• Solicitations of commerce
• Conduct or encouragement of illegal activity
• Threatening messaging of any kind against a person, sponsor, the USA Games or Special Olympics
• SPAM/Phishing posts

To respect the privacy of staff, volunteers and athletes, no personal information concerning any individual should be posted.

Any citations or references of donors or sponsors are not permitted without the donor/sponsor’s approval.

Event/fan pages for USA Games fundraisers, competition and events should not be created without USA Games review and approval. If approval is given, these pages must maintain consistent USA Games brand messaging.

All USA Games and SOI rules and regulations that apply to employee activities of proprietary and confidential information apply to online activity.

The copying, publishing or transmission of any content protected by copyright laws is prohibited on social media. This includes copyrights or logos of Special Olympics and the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games.