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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

#181

Post by PurpleBoxDragon »

dragonwriter wrote: post #65
zerostar07 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Note that “public forum” is a term of art in First Amendment case law that refers to a venue owned or controlled by government , including a privately owned venue over which government exercises some control, made available for general or limited public discussion; the first amendment limits what government can do in such forums. And this status is not an unprecedented one for government-controlled social media accou…

If I was a government official and decided to host a public event at a private property which I paid for, where the private property said no women allowed (say it was a private club which allowed to do such), could I use that rules to prevent women from attending the event? Or would the rules of the private property either block me from utilizing them at all or be overridden in regards to my event?

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

#182

Post by logfromblammo »

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 is not enforcing a rule upon a private entity. It is enforcing a rule upon itself, specifically on the office of the president, and as embodied in the person currently occupying that office.

Twitter, as a private entity, has the option to wipe out a user's block list, or to save it now and restore it later, and in the wake of this ruling, would be publicly justified in doing so for the @realdonaldtrump user. They would only be helping that particular user to obey the rules of their office. But they can also ignore it completely, and leave it to Trump to clear his own block list. The court might request Twitter's assistance in checking on whether its ruling is being honored, and they might choose to cooperate, or not, in the absence of any legal compulsion to do so.

This isn't a Twitter thing. It's a government thing.

The same thing has happened to government officials or agencies who blocked local gadflies and protesters from their Facebook pages.

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

#183

Post by spookthesunset »

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.

> Let the people he blocks make a new account to follow him or open an incognito window.

That's not how this works.

Trump a big boy playing a big boy game now. He can't just block anybody he wants on twitter and expect them to create a new account. What if that twitter handle he blocks is a well known journalist or something? You expect that person to create a new account just to call him out or retweet his stuff?

Seriously, spend 5 minutes and think about what you are arguing. You are saying that citizens might need to go into incognito mode to view the presidents posts because the president of the united states blocked their twitter account! Say that out loud and tell me how that isn't scary as hell. Governments should not do that sort of thing. That reads almost like a dystopian future sci-fi novel or something.

Yes there are spammers, bots and others and absolutely it is a hard problem to somehow filter out the non-human garbage that gets posted while also fulfilling your ethical and legal obligations to allow all citizens to participate in a democratic government. Who knows if that is even a solvable problem.

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

#184

Post by lightbyte »

mieseratte wrote: post #77
frockington wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't tell this to the hundreds of people who reply "Drumpf will be impeached #RESIST" to every single one of his tweets. The realization that he has never read a single one of their tweets might be enough cause a heart attack

> Drumpf On a tangent, what is the deal with the "Drumpf" thing? It was his family name some time ago, so is this just the other sides' "Barack Hussein Obama" or is there more to it?

Other posters have not given the actual reason for this.

It is from HBO's Last Week Tonight. The joke is that Trump made fun of Jon Stewart for changing his last name in a tweet [1], which is silly because his family did the same.

>I promise you that I'm much smarter than Jonathan Leibowitz - I mean Jon Stewart @TheDailyShow. Who, by the way, is totally overrated.

[1] https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/32707672042545152...

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

#185

Post by beefield »

PurpleBoxDragon wrote: post #170
RIMR wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Sounds to me more like Trump can set up so that your phone calls are dropped every time you mention Trump in your conversation.

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

#186

Post by s73v3r_ »

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.

"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."

But everyone knows that simply isn't going to happen. So the more sensible ruling is to say that Trump can't block anyone.

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

#187

Post by [deleted] »

PurpleBoxDragon wrote: post #170
RIMR wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

[deleted]

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

#188

Post by welly »

koolba wrote: post #143
giarc wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But is it his personal account anymore? It's a verified account with the description of "45th President of the United States of America". When he speaks (tweets) he speaks as the POTUS. Doesn't matter if it's from the @potus account or @realdonaldtrump account.

> But is it his personal account anymore? Yes. For example one of his tweets from earlier today isn't a matter of public policy, it's his opinion on the current state of affairs: https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/99928232531686604... > It's a verified account with the description of "45th President of the United States of America". Many people on Twitter have "Works @company" or "$TITLE as Company" on their…

And apparently the judge disagrees with you. You could say the sky is green and the grass is blue. Doesn't really matter. The white house has declared @realdonaldtrump as the official account and thus it is.
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