Community Guidelines

Information and photos posted by the public on MD Anderson Cancer Center’s social media accounts, are not “protected health information” and are not protected by U.S. health privacy laws. This means MD Anderson may share anything you post here on our social media accounts, including but not limited to Facebook, X(formerly Twitter), Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, Snapchat, LinkedIn and Yelp. Before posting about someone else, you should get that person’s permission and ensure the accuracy of the information you are sharing.

MD Anderson wants to provide a friendly, informative and engaging community for our cancer patients, caregivers, supporters, health care professionals and other users of our social media channels, including our Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn, Yelp and YouTube accounts. We encourage you to comment and share your opinions and stories in a courteous and respectful manner.

Community moderation

To maintain a supportive and courteous environment, the following types of comments and posts are prohibited:

• Language or content that is profane, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, threatening or defamatory
• Content that is illegal or violates the right of any person or entity including intellectual property, privacy, or publicity rights
• Content that discriminates based on race, creed, age, color, religion, gender, marital status, national origin, income level, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation or any other form of unlawful discrimination
  
• Sexual content or links to sexual content
• Links to products and services that MD Anderson does not offer or endorse
• Content or encouragement of illegal activity
• Content that promotes a competitor or competitive product

Information shared on social media is not a substitute for specific medical advice

The information we share on our social media channels shouldn’t be considered medical advice. Please discuss all specific medical questions and concerns with your personal health care provider.

Current MD Anderson patients should send a MyChart message to their care team to address specific medical issues. Prospective new patients may request an appointment at MD Anderson online by calling 1-877-632-6789. For medical emergencies, please call 911 rather than posting on social media. 

Exercise caution when sharing personal information

Keep in mind that once you post something online, it may be read by thousands of others in our online community and beyond.

Therefore, we encourage you to use caution when sharing medical information or other personal information or any of our social media sites. For your own privacy and protection, we encourage you not to share information such as your medical record number, financial information or any other information that you and/or your friends and relatives would not want strangers to know. Similarly, you should not post private, personal or sensitive information belonging to or about any other individual or entity.

By engaging with our social media networks:

• you grant MD Anderson the irrevocable right to reproduce, distribute, publish, display, edit, modify, create derivative works from, and otherwise use all of your posted content for any purpose and in any media without any legal or monetary obligation or consideration to you or the author; and
• you guarantee to MD Anderson that you have the right to use and post your content.

All statements and viewpoints expressed in the comments are strictly those of the commenter alone and do not constitute an official position of MD Anderson and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of MD Anderson. MD Anderson is not responsible for, and does not endorse, third party sites or their content.

Social media monitoring

MD Anderson actively monitors all of its social media channels daily, during the hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central Monday through Friday, with the exclusion of all holidays. MD Anderson reserves the right in its sole discretion to remove comments and posts that, and block users who, violate these guidelines.

If you have any issues or concerns regarding our social media content, please contact Social@MDAnderson.org. While we strive to address concerns the same day, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to resolve an issue the same day.