The Marine Corps has issued new guidance on how troops can engage in political activity on social media.
The messaging comes as the country ramps up for the 2020 elections. The Marines reiterated past policy, but also offered new standards for actions on social media platforms such as Facebook, according to Military.com.
Active-duty troops are allowed to voice their own political opinions on social media, but it must also include a disclaimer pointing out that the views are those of the individual and not the government or Marine Corps. Sharing a link to a political page would violate this policy, according to the new guidance.
“Because an active duty member may not engage in partisan political activity, the active duty member may not post or make direct links to a political party, partisan political candidate, campaign, group, or cause,” the message read. “Such activity is akin to distributing literature on behalf of those entities, which is prohibited.”
Even though active-duty service members can’t share political pages, liking them is alright. Troops can also “friend” social media pages of political candidates but are not permitted to encourage others to engage with the pages on social media.
Those in the Marines who are not on active duty have a bit more leeway and can post what they want on social media as long as the post doesn’t appear to tie the Defense Department or the Marine Corps to their endorsement of a cause or candidate.
Reserve members are allowed to run for political office and can be seen wearing their uniform in campaign materials, but the advertisement must also contain “a prominent and clearly displayed disclaimer that the military photograph does not imply endorsement by the Department of Defense or their particular Military Department.”
The message reiterates that it is never acceptable to use government property to post political statements and that all political views must be expressed on service members’ own time.
The collision of social media and politics has caused some trouble in the Marine Corps in the past.
In 2012, Sgt. Gary Stein was given an “other-than-honorable” discharge for creating a Facebook page supporting the Tea Party and writing “screw Obama” on his personal page. Stein also wrote that he wouldn’t follow “illegal orders” from then-President Barack Obama.
