Social media archiving for Montana government

Montana records requests follow two timelines.

LOCAL AND OTHER PUBLIC-AGENCY PATHS DIFFER

Local governments respond in a timely manner. Other public agencies acknowledge within five business days and then follow the applicable production path. Brolly preserves supported social content in one searchable archive for whichever timeline applies.

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Supported posts, comments, edits & deletions · Search & export · Metadata & audit trail
State agenciesCounties & citiesSchool districtsSpecial districts
The Montana State Capitol in Helena
Helena, Montana · Photo: Martin Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0
The Deadline

A request lands Monday morning.
What happens next?

Manual methods like screenshots miss metadata, timestamps, edits and deletions — and manual retrieval makes each required action harder to complete inside its window.

1Request inA request arrives. Local governments respond in a timely manner; every other public agency follows the staged clock.
5AcknowledgeNon-local public agencies acknowledge within 5 business days of the designated contact receiving the request.
5Single recordA single, specific, clearly identifiable and readily available record is due within 5 working days after acknowledgment.
90FulfillMore complex requests are fulfilled within 90 days of acknowledgment — up to six months where the agency determines 90 days is not feasible.
The statute defines required actions and when each falls due — not a single production deadline. With Brolly, the searching and compiling become one afternoon.
The Law

Why compliance matters in Montana.

Social media content created or received in the course of official business can be a public record in Montana. Here is what defines your obligation:

Statute

Montana Public Records Act / Right to Know

MCA 2-6-1001 et seq.; Mont. Const. art. II, § 9 — defines public records by content rather than medium. Posts, comments, replies, edits and deletions created or received in the course of official business can qualify.

MCA § 2-6-1006: A local government must respond to a public records request in a timely manner, without a fixed day count. Every other public agency must acknowledge the request within five business days of its designated contact receiving it, provide a single, specific, clearly identifiable and readily available record within five working days of acknowledgment, and fulfill more complex requests within 90 days of acknowledgment — or up to six months where the agency determines 90 days is not feasible (MCA § 2-6-1006).

Enforcement

Courts decide disputes

Montana has no dedicated records ombudsman — access disputes go to court. Failure to provide lawful access may result in court proceedings and, depending on state law, costs, attorney-fee awards or other remedies.

Transparency

Montana Open Meetings Law

MCA 2-3-201 et seq. demands openness and accountability in how public bodies meet and decide. Open-meetings duties are a separate layer from records law — and a timestamped record of what your agency publishes helps you answer questions under both.

Scope

Social media records may include

Depending on content and context — with metadata and timestamps intact, including material edited or deleted after posting:

PostsComments & repliesReactionsEditsDeletionsImages & videoDirect messages

What is producible in a given request depends on the record's content and the exemptions your state applies.

Primary sources: MCA § 2-6-1006 (current codified text) · MCA §§ 2-6-1002, 2-6-1006 (Ch. 479, L. 2025, effective July 1, 2026) · Montana Secretary of State retention-schedule index

Manual methods vs. Brolly

What your agency needs
Screenshots & exports
Brolly
Capture comments & replies as they happen
Only what staff remember to save
Automatic capture across supported channels
Preserve edits & deletions
Gone before anyone notices
Full version history retained
Metadata & timestamps
Stripped by screenshots
Kept in full; exports checksummed
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.

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 integrity evidence attached.

Brolly Archive

Archive feed

Captured posts and conversations from connected accounts

All networksAll accountsAll dates12 captured posts
4281.2k
86244.1k
Edited
61122.8k
Post Inspector
3 versions
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.

Free download Montana — Archiving Social Media: A Guide For Government
The Guide

Download the free Montana
Social Media Legislation Guide.

Social media comes with legal responsibilities. This free guide brings together the key federal and Montana legislation in one easy-to-read reference — helping your agency understand its obligations and manage social media records with confidence.

Federal & Montana legislation, side by side Public records obligations explained in plain English Bonus compliance checklist inside Updated August 2026
Download now

PDF · no credit card · straight to your inbox

Built For

Every Montana public body.

County courthouse with clock tower

Counties

Sheriff's offices, clerks, mayors, highway departments, election commissions — every official account, one archive.

  • County-wide multi-account capture
  • Records-officer-ready export workflows
  • Records retained until disposition is authorized under state records law
A fire engine in a city fire station

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
A utility crew restoring service from a bucket truck

Public Agencies

School districts, utility districts, transit authorities, housing authorities and boards — all subject to the Montana Public Records Act / Right to Know.

  • Board & superintendent accounts
  • Public comment threads on record
  • Request-ready exports on demand
The Reference Layer

Asked by clerks, records officers and agency attorneys.

Plain-English answers with statutory citations — the details your counsel will ask about. General information, not legal advice.

The obligation

Are Montana government social media posts public records?
Content created or received by a Montana public agency in connection with official business may qualify as a public record under the Montana Public Records Act / Right to Know, 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.
How quickly must a Montana agency respond?
A local government must respond to a public records request in a timely manner, without a fixed day count. Every other public agency must acknowledge the request within five business days of its designated contact receiving it, provide a single, specific, clearly identifiable and readily available record within five working days of acknowledgment, and fulfill more complex requests within 90 days of acknowledgment — or up to six months where the agency determines 90 days is not feasible (MCA § 2-6-1006). Because unreasonable delay can be treated as a denial, the safest position is being able to produce records on demand.
What happens if we can't produce a requested record?
Records that were edited or deleted before anyone captured them can't be produced at all — which is why capture has to precede the request. If a request is refused, Montana access disputes are decided by the courts, so agencies should be able to show a complete, defensible record of what was published.
How does the Montana Open Meetings Law relate to our social media?
Open-meetings duties are a separate layer from records law. Ordinary resident comments aren't a meeting of your governing body — but when members themselves discuss public business in comment threads, questions can arise under both laws, and a timestamped record of what your agency publishes helps you answer them.

What counts as a record

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.
Do edited or deleted posts still have to be produced?
A record doesn't stop being a record because it was edited or removed from the live page. If content was made or received in official business, each captured version, with its timestamps, can be part of what your agency needs to produce.
Can direct messages be public records?
They can be. The Montana Public Records Act / Right to Know defines public records by content rather than medium, so a message sent or received in the course of official business can fall within scope even in a private inbox. Whether specific messages are producible or exempt is a determination for your counsel.
What about an official's personal account?
Content follows function, not the account label: a personal account used to conduct official business can create public records. The safest policy routes official business through official accounts — and keeps those accounts on the record.

Fees & enforcement

Can attorney fees be awarded in a Montana records dispute?
A requester who prevails in district court in an action enforcing the constitutional right to know may be awarded costs and reasonable attorney fees (Mont. Code Ann. § 2-6-1009(4)). The award is discretionary.

Working with Brolly

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 audit logs, and exports carry digital checksums, designed to survive legal scrutiny.
Which platforms does Brolly archive?
Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, YouTube, LinkedIn and TikTok — captured automatically through official platform APIs from connected accounts.
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 Montana 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.
Will Brolly pass our procurement and security review?
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, with audit logs on every record and digital checksums on every export.

Primary source: MCA 2-6-1001 et seq.; Mont. Const. art. II, § 9 · Last reviewed against primary sources: 2026-08-28 · General information, not legal advice

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
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“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.

From a verified G2 review — Verified User in US Government Administration
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, with audit logs on every record and digital checksums on every export.

Visit the Trust & Security Center
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 1.3+ in transit.
99.9% uptime SLAAvailability commitment in the service agreement.
MFA & role-based accessAccess scoped to your team, with activity logged.

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 Public-records 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 Montana Public Records Act / Right to Know requirements Protect against reputational & legal risk Deliver faster, more efficient public service

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