Columbia University's Knight First Amendment Institute has filed a lawsuit against President Trump for blocking seven users on Twitter, claiming that the action violates the users' First Amendment right to participate in a public political forum:
The institute filed suit today on behalf of seven Twitter users who were blocked by the president, which prevents them from seeing or replying to his tweets. It threatened legal action in a letter to Trump in June, and now "asks the court to declare that the viewpoint-based blocking of people from the @realDonaldTrump account is unconstitutional."
The lawsuit, which was filed in the Southern District of New York, elaborates on the Knight Institute's earlier letter. It contends that Trump's Twitter account is a public political forum where citizens have a First Amendment right to speak. Under this theory, blocking users impedes their right to participate in a political conversation and stops them from viewing official government communication. Therefore, if Trump blocks people for criticizing his political viewpoints, he'd be doing the equivalent of kicking them out of a digital town hall.
(Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Wednesday July 12 2017, @04:29PM (4 children)
It's easier than that. They can just logout and then view the posts. There is only two things blocking does: It prevents a person from directly responding thus limiting the chance the person will be heard by the politician (but really, unless the tweet is accompanied by a six figure donation, what politician will actually listen). Even so, people can still indirectly respond (take a screenshot while logged out and add snark in the user's own tweet).
(Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Wednesday July 12 2017, @04:29PM (1 child)
only ONE thing
(Score: 3, Funny) by Gaaark on Wednesday July 12 2017, @11:12PM
Cleric: And the Lord spake, saying, "First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then shalt thou count to two, no more, no less. Two shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be two. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou one, excepting that thou then proceed to two. Five is right out. Once the number two, being the second number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it.
Brother Maynard: Amen.
All: Amen.
King Arthur: Right. Zero... one... five!
Galahad: Two, sir.
King Arthur: Two! [throws the grenade]
With humble apologies to Sir Monty Python, Sir Esquire, the Sir Second, Sir Jr.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday July 12 2017, @06:26PM
It's pretty bizarre that Twitter would make tweets unviewable to blocked users when they can just log out. They should change that.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by cykros on Friday July 14 2017, @04:47AM
One thing that makes Donald perhaps so terrifying and yet appear so cool to some people is how accessible he can appear, and the fact that that often involves amusing him in some fashion or other, which gives us a glimpse into his almost juvenile drives. Basically, you might not need a six figure donation; as we saw recently, all you need to do is tickle him with a picture of him taking on CNN in the ring. It's the same principle that drives John Oliver's Catheter Cowboy ads on Fox and Friends.
While he may not be the savior much of his voter base perhaps believes he is, and honesty isn't a strong suit, he isn't actually much like a run of the mill politician, and operates under a different set of parameters.
That all said, this is a bit tangential to the topic. Twitter blocking is effectively nothing other than a rather gentle "your attention is unwelcome" notice to curb harassment. This case is without merit.