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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

#161

Post by spookthesunset »

evan_ wrote: post #133
spookthesunset wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I agree that it's kind of a questionable decision I don't see what is questionable about it. Seems pretty straightforward, actually. He is an elected official who is held accountable by the public. He is widely known to make official policy statements using twitter. He can't just block citizens from reading his policy statements. That isn't how US democracy works. > I think the more interesting part of this is the…

> He can't just block citizens from reading his policy statements. That isn't how US democracy works. if that was the crux of the issue, the ruling would be "stop making policy statements on twitter." The vast majority of US citizens don't use twitter and a sizable portion don't even have access to a twitter-capable device.

> The vast majority of US citizens don't use twitter and a sizable portion don't even have access to a twitter-capable device.

If you don't like that, consider taking that up with the Trump Administration. If his administration wants to use a medium that most people don't/won't/can't access, that kinda reflects on Trump. If you are down with that, cool. But the responsibility lies 100% with him.

This ruling says that if he insists on using twitter to make his policy statements, than he can't block people.

I dunno what more to say. Again. This seems like pretty straightforward stuff to me.

PS: I'm positive that somewhere down in the bowels of some federal government agency, somebody, somewhere, is trying to solve your concern. Probably by snapshotting his tweets and recording them in a more durable, accessable medium. (or god forbid printing them / saving them to PDF, etc). I also promise you tens of thousands of private citizens and journalists are doing the same thing.

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

#162

Post by sgnelson »

oddevan wrote: post #3
pacifika wrote: post #2

Don’t understand this. Blocking a person does not prevent the followers of said person to see the conversation , thus it’s not a public forum?

I would imagine it’s analogous to blocking phone numbers on the White House switchboard: freedom of speech in this context means that the President cannot artificially limit who speaks to him through publicly-available means.

Yes, he doesn't have to listen to the callers, but he has to allow people to be able to contact him.

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

#163

Post by dragonwriter »

3pt14159 wrote: post #159
spookthesunset wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And given that blocking is part and parcel to the app, it would seem like everyone is buying into the terms of the environment when they start using it That isn't how this works. Just because Twitter allows people to block stuff, doesn't mean Trump gets to block stuff. In a "normal" government, they'd pick a vendor with software that would let them make official policy statements in a way that complied with the law…

Oh common. Spam and a harassment is a problem. Let the people he blocks make a new account to follow him or open an incognito window.

> Spam and a harassment is a problem.

To the extent that's true, they aren't problems that require viewpoint censorship to combat.

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

#164

Post by s73v3r_ »

mal10c wrote: post #104
Karishma1234 wrote: post #90

I am not legal expert but it makes perfect sense that any government official must not deny access to information to any citizen which is easily available to another. Blocking means other person can not see trump's tweets. I believe Trump can always mute other people. Let us consider the following scenarios : - Trump blocks only black people on Twitter. - Hawaii's missile alert systems issues a real missile alert on…

Because Twitter is not a government owned entity, the government should have no right to force the use or means of use of a private tool. Now if the tool was a government utility, it would be a different story.

The government can, however force it's members to abide by certain regulations. That includes Trump.

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

#165

Post by chipuni »

paulddraper wrote: post #119
cmiles74 wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody is forcing Trump to use Twitter. They are saying that if he uses Twitter, he must leave his tweets open to all the public and not a subset. President Trump could always choose to close his account if he finds this requirement to be too onerous.

Do his Gmail emails need to be open to all the public? His Slack messages? His Facebook posts? I don't see how anyone, president or otherwise, can't chose whom they send messages to.

Please look up what the Republicans were saying about Hillary Clinton's private email server.

For years.

And years.

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

#166

Post by Grimm665 »

abiox wrote: post #150
evan_ wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> He can't just block citizens from reading his policy statements. That isn't how US democracy works. if that was the crux of the issue, the ruling would be "stop making policy statements on twitter." The vast majority of US citizens don't use twitter and a sizable portion don't even have access to a twitter-capable device.

> if that was the crux of the issue, the ruling would be "stop making policy statements on twitter." i don't think that sort of thing is within the purview of the court. > The vast majority of US citizens don't use twitter and a sizable portion don't even have access to a twitter-capable device. afaik there isn't a way to make statements in a manner that will reach all citizens.

> afaik there isn't a way to make statements in a manner that will reach all citizens.

I don't think Clinton and all the presidents before him had trouble making statements without the use of Twitter.

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

#167

Post by PurpleBoxDragon »

Karishma1234 wrote: post #90

I am not legal expert but it makes perfect sense that any government official must not deny access to information to any citizen which is easily available to another. Blocking means other person can not see trump's tweets. I believe Trump can always mute other people. Let us consider the following scenarios : - Trump blocks only black people on Twitter. - Hawaii's missile alert systems issues a real missile alert on…

So can twitter ban me from using their services or viewing tweets? If we declare twitter the same as a DMV window, it greatly complicates the public/private division.

And what if Trump abandons twitter and decides to join chirper (I made that up, no relationship with anything that might have that name) which is just like twitter but invite only and has an open policy of banning liberals (which a private company is allowed to do), then what does this ruling mean? Does it mean that no government official can make use of any private company that has any level of discrimination against certain users (and by this I mean a legal discrimination, not based on protected class)? What about Trump joining a private club that doesn't let everyone be members?

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

#168

Post by s73v3r_ »

paulddraper wrote: post #119
cmiles74 wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody is forcing Trump to use Twitter. They are saying that if he uses Twitter, he must leave his tweets open to all the public and not a subset. President Trump could always choose to close his account if he finds this requirement to be too onerous.

Do his Gmail emails need to be open to all the public? His Slack messages? His Facebook posts? I don't see how anyone, president or otherwise, can't chose whom they send messages to.

Actually, yes. Every single one of those should be recorded, and made available after declassified. All communications of the President are to be recorded for that reason.

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

#170

Post by PurpleBoxDragon »

RIMR wrote: post #148
ballenf wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't it just mean you have to click one button, "logout", to read the tweets?

Yeah, and now you can't respond to anything he says. You've had your voice taken away. The only way back into the conversation is to create a new Twitter account (in violation of the Twitter TOS). And if you log back in with the blocked account, and try to tweet @realDonaldTrump, it will prevent you from posting because he blocked you, preventing you from using his Twitter handle in any way. You also cannot retweet h…

>Yeah, and now you can't respond to anything he says. You've had your voice taken away. The only way back into the conversation is to create a new Twitter account (in violation of the Twitter TOS).

When Trump uses his phone to talk to some people but doesn't take my call, is my voice taken away?

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