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Judge Rules Trump Can’t Block People on Twitter

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Re: Judge Rules Trump Can’t Block People on Twitter

#41

Post by evan_ »

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.

he can still mute people if his feelings get hurt

also this is not the first president to whom people have said rude things. If the definition of "presidential" has changed it's not because of people calling Trump a "parasite".

Re: Judge Rules Trump Can’t Block People on Twitter

#42

Post by vaishaksuresh »

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.

To be fair, no president was this rude. at least, not in public.

Re: Judge Rules Trump Can’t Block People on Twitter

#43

Post by modbait »

pcunite wrote: post #8

Has the judge read some of the comments being made? Absolute craziness in there. Some accounts should absolutely be blocked, they are repeatedly spamming and saying things you would never say in a meeting face to face. -EDIT- Funny that my comment is being down-voted. Seen everyone wants to moderate comments. If someone says something you don't like on your personal page, you should be able to stop that. You've just…

This is the key. If no one is allowed to moderate this stuff, legitimate replies will simply be drowned in a sea of garbage.

(Not that I personally care, since I've already dumped Twitter.)

Re: Judge Rules Trump Can’t Block People on Twitter

#44

Post by paulddraper »

icebraining wrote: post #30
pcunite wrote: post #14

So, would it be okay for Trump's YouTube channel to prevent any comment from being made? That's a feature of YouTube. Might need to enable that for Twitter.

IANAL, but yes, I think that's OK, because it's not blocking based on the content of the speech, which is the crucial part.

How is the content the crucial part?

Free speech is about free speech, not discriminating on content.

It is both illegal for the government to shut down leftist newspapers, and illegal for the government to shut down all newspapers.

The idiocy of this is making shutting down a newspaper equivalent to twitter blocking, but if you draw the analogy, that's what you wind up with.

Re: Judge Rules Trump Can’t Block People on Twitter

#45

Post by theandrewbailey »

icebraining wrote: post #26
_csoz wrote: post #19

This is funny. it sounds like it will be more work for twitter than it will be for Trump

Twitter doesn't have to do anything.

And technically, since the court didn't order anything, neither does Trump.

Re: Judge Rules Trump Can’t Block People on Twitter

#46

Post by cwkoss »

So Trump could still mute people, right?

Seems like the reason he can't block people is because it prevents them from replying to his posts and engaging in the public conversation. Title seems a bit misleading, almost makes it sound like he has to read all of his twitter replies.

Re: Judge Rules Trump Can’t Block People on Twitter

#47

Post by forapurpose »

striking wrote: post #38
ChuckMcM wrote: post #34

An interesting ruling, here is my prediction on the effect of the ruling: This will enable the twitterati to get Trump off Twitter. Without the ability to block users, he will be hounded with notifications from adversaries using trigger phrases designed to irritate and harass him.

There's a Mute button. It's like Block but much simpler, in that it doesn't prevent other people from following him or reading his tweets. He just won't see what they say back.

> There's a Mute button. It's like Block but much simpler, in that it doesn't prevent other people from following him or reading his tweets. He just won't see what they say back.

The First Amendment concerns speech, not listening. It protects citizen's right to speak to government, not to hear what government says (not a highly sought-after civil right!). I wonder if Mute is legal.

Re: Judge Rules Trump Can’t Block People on Twitter

#48

Post by forapurpose »

pcunite wrote: post #8

Has the judge read some of the comments being made? Absolute craziness in there. Some accounts should absolutely be blocked, they are repeatedly spamming and saying things you would never say in a meeting face to face. -EDIT- Funny that my comment is being down-voted. Seen everyone wants to moderate comments. If someone says something you don't like on your personal page, you should be able to stop that. You've just…

> Has the judge read some of the comments being made? Absolute craziness in there. Some accounts should absolutely be blocked, they are repeatedly spamming and saying things you would never say in a meeting face to face.

Wouldn't many say the same about Trump's comments? I don't meant that to be provocative, but to point out that standards of behavior get complicated.

At the same time, I'm happy that craziness isn't on HN!

Re: Judge Rules Trump Can’t Block People on Twitter

#49

Post by snowwrestler »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #34

An interesting ruling, here is my prediction on the effect of the ruling: This will enable the twitterati to get Trump off Twitter. Without the ability to block users, he will be hounded with notifications from adversaries using trigger phrases designed to irritate and harass him.

Trump spends almost no time reading Twitter. Dan Scavino manages most Twitter interactions for Trump's accounts, and writes a lot of the tweets too (dictated to him by Trump).

When Trump tweets for himself in the early morning hours, he just picks up the phone and starts typing. He reacts to what he sees on TV, not what he reads on Twitter.

Re: Judge Rules Trump Can’t Block People on Twitter

#50

Post by some_random »

badlucklottery wrote: post #22
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 think the more interesting part of this is the ruling that the president's "personal" twitter account is an official government instrument. Didn't the administration state that Trump's tweets are official statements a while back? That might be a big reason why. Edit: Yup, they did. https://www.cnn.com/2017/06/06/politics/trump-tweets-officia...

Ah, that changes things significantly.

While I'm still concerned about the potential application of this case onto others, the ruling is far more reasonable imo.

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