Twitter users sue Donald Trump for blocking them over critical comments

Blocking on social media is a form of speech. President is allowed free speech too. Might as well sue him for ignoring snail mail lol.

originally posted by: Xeven
Blocking on social media is a form of speech. President is allowed free speech too. Might as well sue him for ignoring snail mail lol.

However, you can't block someone from government information.

There IS a President Trump twitter account. Trump doesn't use it. He uses his personal account to make policy statements and he has said that it's his official account. Therefore, his personal account has turned into a government account.

You can't hold a town hall meeting and say it's only open to people who donate $40,000 to your campaign or only for Hispanic people who agree with you.

So yes, his personal account is now archived... including the stuff he's deleted (or tried to.) And yes, since government accounts can NOT block anyone, he can't block them. He absolutely could back when he was Mr. Trump or Candidate Trump. But now he's said it's an official account and therefore blocking is against the rules.

originally posted by: Xeven
Blocking on social media is a form of speech. President is allowed free speech too. Might as well sue him for ignoring snail mail lol.

But Twitter is not a public forum, therefore there is no right to free speech.

Unless one wants to argue whether whatever platform the POTUS uses to publicly relay information becomes a public forum (to him) by him using it.

originally posted by: Sapphire
I fail to see why this is even an issue?

Did i miss something?

You did. Several members of the Supreme Court have been advocating for wanting to take these style cases for the past few years. It all has to do with the melding of government, corporate, and personal accounts and how that plays into the Constitution. While this Trump story has a good chance of getting a SCOTUS ruling out of it, it's about a lot more than Trumps Twitter account.

a reply to: Annagramma

Here's the issue:
It's a personal account being used for official government business. Said account is also owned by a third party corporation.

In the Constitution something is either public or private, but social media (not just Trumps twitter) is regularly crossing boundries where it winds up being two of the three, or even all of them. That requires some new rulings on how we need to treat this stuff.

originally posted by: Byrd

originally posted by: Xeven
Blocking on social media is a form of speech. President is allowed free speech too. Might as well sue him for ignoring snail mail lol.

However, you can't block someone from government information.

There IS a President Trump twitter account. Trump doesn't use it. He uses his personal account to make policy statements and he has said that it's his official account. Therefore, his personal account has turned into a government account.

You can't hold a town hall meeting and say it's only open to people who donate $40,000 to your campaign or only for Hispanic people who agree with you.

So yes, his personal account is now archived... including the stuff he's deleted (or tried to.) And yes, since government accounts can NOT block anyone, he can't block them. He absolutely could back when he was Mr. Trump or Candidate Trump. But now he's said it's an official account and therefore blocking is against the rules.

However, you can't block someone from government information.

Damn skippy you can

You can't hold a town hall meeting and say it's only open to people who donate $40,000 to your campaign

Damn skippy you can . In fact , all politicians do.
Deny ignorace
Next

originally posted by: Aazadan
a reply to: Annagramma

Here's the issue:
It's a personal account being used for official government business. Said account is also owned by a third party corporation.

In the Constitution something is either public or private, but social media (not just Trumps twitter) is regularly crossing boundries where it winds up being two of the three, or even all of them. That requires some new rulings on how we need to treat this stuff.

It's a personal account but not on a public forum (but rather a private one, with its own rules), which is why there is no right to free speech.

Theoretically: If Trump created an ATS account, said it was him, and it was confirmed to be him, would he have free speech protection or would he be allowed privilege insofar as TOS are concerned? Could ATS censor/remove anything he posted against TC

originally posted by: Liquesence

originally posted by: Aazadan
a reply to: Annagramma

Here's the issue:
It's a personal account being used for official government business. Said account is also owned by a third party corporation.

In the Constitution something is either public or private, but social media (not just Trumps twitter) is regularly crossing boundries where it winds up being two of the three, or even all of them. That requires some new rulings on how we need to treat this stuff.

It's a personal account but not on a public forum (but rather a private one, with its own rules), which is why there is no right to free speech.

Theoretically: If Trump created an ATS account, said it was him, and it was confirmed to be him, would he have free speech protection or would he be allowed privilege insofar as TOS are concerned? Could ATS censor/remove anything he posted against TC

It's a little more complex than that, because in addition to being a personal account, Trump, his Press Secretary, and the rest of the White House agree that it's an official source of information relating to his administration which introduces government into the whole thing.

You can't sue a twitter user for blocking you. These screeching pissbabies will stop at nothing to be as pathetic, whiny, low and petty as they possibly can because they still can't fathom that their own glowing candidate lost due to her own nastiness and arrogance. They're clearly, actively would like to see their President fall and that has rather serious implications for them and the country. It shocks me into a very uncomfortable reality that these people even exist.

a reply to: antoinemarionette

It's idiocy, plain and simple.

Not to mention the ugly precedence it would set.

If I were to ever use my twitter account, never have, never will, and I block you from saying all those mean things you've said, if you ever did, you should be able to sue me?

Or some TV celebrity block some idjit fan-boi from posting to his/her account, that idjit can sue. For what? Not being able to call someone names??

Hopefully the judge will throw this case out.

a reply to: Aazadan

It's a little more complex than that, because in addition to being a personal account, Trump, his Press Secretary, and the rest of the White House agree that it's an official source of information relating to his administration

I'm aware of that (that's it's an official statement).

Hence the second part of my initial response: does he being POTUS nullify the fact that he's on a private forum in regards to speech?

a reply to: seagull

“President Trump’s Twitter account, @realDonaldTrump, has become an important source of news and information about the government, and an important public forum for speech by, to, and about the President,” the lawsuit said. “In an effort to suppress dissent in this forum, Defendants have excluded — 'blocked' —Twitter users who have criticized the President or his policies. This practice is unconstitutional, and this suit seeks to end it."

This sounds like a pretty solid case to me. I don't think it will simply be thrown out.

Here is the plaintifs explanation for this:

Why I'm Suing Trump

My first viral tweet to Trump was a political cartoon celebrating the Ninth Circuit Court's decision to reverse the Muslim travel ban. It got over 2,000 likes. A few days later I made a comment about how the "greatest witch hunt in American history" was the Salem witch trials against women. That tweet got over 4,000 likes and was featured on Twitter Moments. For the first time, it felt like I was finally being heard.
Then the president blocked me.

originally posted by: Liquesence
a reply to: Aazadan

It's a little more complex than that, because in addition to being a personal account, Trump, his Press Secretary, and the rest of the White House agree that it's an official source of information relating to his administration

I'm aware of that (that's it's an official statement).

Hence the second part of my initial response: does he being POTUS nullify the fact that he's on a private forum in regards to speech?

If anything this might decide the proper official use or avoidance of platforms such as Twitter, by those who hold public office or even roles in the public service. But if the pope can have one and if the local nut case who thinks he's President also can, I see no difference in them to the real President. If they specify that the head of state can't have a twitter account, aside from being the most precious, petty and pathetic reason for anyone stepping into a courtroom that week, it sets a strange and worrying precedent.

a reply to: antoinemarionette

I suppose it will depend upon who hears it.

I don't like the precedence it sets...

We'll see, I guess.

originally posted by: Byrd

originally posted by: Xeven
Blocking on social media is a form of speech. President is allowed free speech too. Might as well sue him for ignoring snail mail lol.

However, you can't block someone from government information.

Actually, you can, there is lots of government information that citizens are blocked from viewing or knowing about. And anyway that isn't even relevant here, as Trump blocking someone from Twitter doesn't prevent them from viewing his Tweets. No one is being blocked from information.

originally posted by: Aazadan
a reply to: Annagramma

Here's the issue:
It's a personal account being used for official government business. Said account is also owned by a third party corporation.

In the Constitution something is either public or private, but social media (not just Trumps twitter) is regularly crossing boundries where it winds up being two of the three, or even all of them. That requires some new rulings on how we need to treat this stuff.

You have beautifully expressed the complete picture, and with this law suit, it will have to be dealt with, one way or the other.

Theoretically: If Trump created an ATS account, said it was him, and it was confirmed to be him, would he have free speech protection or would he be allowed privilege insofar as TOS are concerned? Could ATS censor/remove anything he posted against TC

If he was making "first announcement to the public of public policy" here then the situation would still be the same. ATS might try to censor but the public recorders would make a copy of the original plus any censorship that ATS did. It's about holding people accountable for their words.

originally posted by: TruMcCarthy

originally posted by: Byrd

originally posted by: Xeven
Blocking on social media is a form of speech. President is allowed free speech too. Might as well sue him for ignoring snail mail lol.

However, you can't block someone from government information.

Actually, you can, there is lots of government information that citizens are blocked from viewing or knowing about. And anyway that isn't even relevant here, as Trump blocking someone from Twitter doesn't prevent them from viewing his Tweets. No one is being blocked from information.

Blocked from expressing their views in a public forum. The complete complaint is listed in this news article.

Furthermore, Trump has been repeatedly warned that this is the case. All it takes is a social management software or simply logging into the official account to make this go away.

He doesn't seem to be able to do that.

a reply to: Byrd

Such simple solutions, yet no one on his team has come up with this. He has waited too long to deal with these matters and now the situation will be taken to the courts.

Trump stated multiple times that his "very powerful social media" was a way to circumvent traditional media and talk directly to the people. Even his son Donald Trump Jr. used Twitter to disclose his explosive emails with a Russian lawyer directly to the public. While America’s founding fathers may not have envisioned something like Twitter, they certainly knew the importance of free speech to a democracy. They would have been outraged if the president could ban an American citizen from reading his announcements in a newspaper or book.

originally posted by: Byrd

originally posted by: Xeven
Blocking on social media is a form of speech. President is allowed free speech too. Might as well sue him for ignoring snail mail lol.

However, you can't block someone from government information.

There IS a President Trump twitter account. Trump doesn't use it. He uses his personal account to make policy statements and he has said that it's his official account. Therefore, his personal account has turned into a government account.

You can't hold a town hall meeting and say it's only open to people who donate $40,000 to your campaign or only for Hispanic people who agree with you.

So yes, his personal account is now archived... including the stuff he's deleted (or tried to.) And yes, since government accounts can NOT block anyone, he can't block them. He absolutely could back when he was Mr. Trump or Candidate Trump. But now he's said it's an official account and therefore blocking is against the rules.

I don't even have twitter and I can see Trump's tweets. All the blocked user has to do is log out if he wishes to access the information. The only thing he cannot do is respond under the blocked account.