Police officers are protesting the National Police Agency’s recently-announced guidelines on using social networking services.

They say the “Basic Principle and Outline for SNS,” announced on Friday, discourages freedom of speech.

The guidelines include restrictions on leaving political comments and uploading photos, which the NPA says would “degrade the image of the police.”

Under the guidelines, police officers who have a Twitter or Facebook account are screening out political comments themselves but some are reluctant to do so.

“Such a notice is like putting a gag in our mouth,” said an officer.

A senior officer in Seoul said the guidelines “violate the constitution guaranteeing freedom of speech, which should be also guaranteed in personal life.”

Another officer complained that they will have to use SNS only as a promotion tool for the police.

The NPA said that the guidelines are the same as the ones made by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in March.