Judge Rules Trump Can’t Block People on Twitter

Post by rovek » Wed, May 23, 2018, 6:12 PM UTC

sp332 wrote: post #10

rovek wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Blocking on Twitter also prevents the blocked user from view the blocker's timeline, which means Trump would be preventing US citizens from viewing his "public statements" Edit: Is this being downvoted because of some inferred snark? None was intended.

You can kind of get around this by viewing the site while logged out. But I don't know if that kind of thing is supported in any of the apps, so it's a big hoop to jump through.

Post by icebraining » Wed, May 23, 2018, 6:18 PM UTC

zerostar07 wrote: post #32

icebraining wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope, Twitter is not a governmental organization, therefore they're not subject to the same restrictions as Trump, who is a public official.

the conditions of the ruling still apply though:"is a public forum and that blocking users on the basis of political speech is a violation of their free-speech rights under the First Amendment". Any american user should have access to that forum without obstruction, no? It's funny how this would elevate his twitter account to unprecedented status, which means twitter will have to implement some bizarre measures.

Post by lmkg » Wed, May 23, 2018, 6:20 PM UTC

zerostar07 wrote: post #32

icebraining wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope, Twitter is not a governmental organization, therefore they're not subject to the same restrictions as Trump, who is a public official.

the conditions of the ruling still apply though:"is a public forum and that blocking users on the basis of political speech is a violation of their free-speech rights under the First Amendment". Any american user should have access to that forum without obstruction, no? It's funny how this would elevate his twitter account to unprecedented status, which means twitter will have to implement some bizarre measures.

Post by BryantD » Wed, May 23, 2018, 6:23 PM UTC

jordan801 wrote: post #4

I feel pretty conflicted on this. The way Trump is using his Twitter, it almost becomes public property. I mean he's making huge announcements, almost solely on Twitter. So, at that point, it's almost like denying public access to the State of the Union. But, on the other hand, it's his damn Twitter and he should be able to do whatever he wants with it. I guess it begs the question, when you're a "public servant", an…

Post by forapurpose » Wed, May 23, 2018, 6:23 PM UTC

tim333 wrote: post #27

evan_ wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that it's kind of a questionable decision but my understanding of it is, people can normally post public replies to tweets- but if the user blocks you, you can't post your public reply. OK (and desirable) for most people, not ok for the government to do. There's not necessarily a perfect offline equivalent but it would sort of be like if the president tried to forbid a newspaper from running an editorial next…

I've noticed there are a lot of rude replies under most of Trumps tweets. I'd think it would be normal to block that kind of thing but I guess it's an odd situation - Twitter wasn't really designed for the president of the US. For example - just the most recent https://twitter.com/ronrobiins/status/999283009957318656 - presidential ain't what it used to be.