The appeals court agreed with a lower court that the interactive space associated with Trump’s Twitter account is a designated public forum and that blocking individuals because of their political expression constitutes viewpoint discrimination. Trump (2019), that President Trump violated the First Amendment by removing from the “interactive space” of his Twitter account several individuals who were very critical of him and his governmental policies. ![]() Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Knight First Amendment Institute v. 2nd Circuit Court said Trump couldn't block critics on Twitter, but Supreme Court vacated the decision However, once the government creates a forum that allows persons to comment and criticize, the government may run into First Amendment hurdles if it tries to censor those expressions.įree-speech scholar Helen Norton explains in her book The Government’s Speech and the Constitution: “But once the government chooses a platform that permits public comment, it has created a type of forum for nongovernmental parties’ speech, and it is now bound by traditional First Amendment principles when regulating the speech of the commenters on the problem.” (55). Government officials may run afoul of First Amendment if it tries to censor certain viewpoints In other words, the government alone has the power to control its content. This expression becomes the speech of the government under the government speech doctrine, a doctrinal principle in First Amendment law that recognizes that government has the ability to be an active participant in the marketplace of ideas. When government officials create a designated public forum on these social media platforms, First Amendment controversies arise, particularly when government officials attempt to shut down or silence opposing viewpoints.Ĭertainly, government officials have the ability to use social media to advocate and engage in their own expression. Government officials routinely use social media to communicate policy, advocate positions, introduce new legislation, and various other functions. David Ake, used with permission from The Associated Press.) ![]() ![]() As a public forum, the government cannot engage in viewpoint discrimination. The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals said the president violated the First Amendment when he blocked people from his twitter account, because the section of the site that is interactive had become a public forum. This June 27, 2019, file photo President Donald Trump's Twitter feed is photographed on an Apple iPad in New York.
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