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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

#191

Post by s73v3r_ »

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.

Go look at replies to any tweet from President Obama. I think you'd be hard pressed to say that there are not many equally as rude responses.

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

#192

Post by frockington »

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?

Probably something to do with Trump being "Literally Hitler" or something because it sounds German

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

#193

Post by lightbyte »

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…

@realDonaldTrump is his official account, as per whitehouse.gov [1]

[1] http://web.archive.org/web/20180523194453/https://www.whiteh...

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

#194

Post by xienze »

aksss wrote: post #64

This seems wrong on the face of it. The judge asks the rhetorical question of whether the logic changes based on whether he's president or not, and he answers his question with a "No". So this is saying that no public official can block others on Twitter. That seems like it's in the "suicide pact" column of rights defense, but then I'm not one that cares about Twitter personally. Just seems that plenty of other forum…

> So this is saying that no public official can block others on Twitter. That seems like it's in the "suicide pact" column of rights defense

Well, the important part is that the judge stuck it to Trump. That’s really all that matters to some people.

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

#195

Post by jschwartzi »

PurpleBoxDragon wrote: post #167
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 al…

These sound like really good questions for a court to decide.

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

#196

Post by rdtsc »

amarkov wrote: post #144
paulddraper wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

He can certainly send private emails, Slack messages, or even Twitter DMs. What he can't do is publicly broadcast his tweets to the world, and then exclude people from them on political grounds.

> What he can't do is publicly broadcast his tweets to the world, and then exclude people from them on political grounds.

What if he blocks them on non-political grounds. Maybe they made fun of his mother, or dog, or threatened to throw dirty socks on his lawn, should be be able to block them then?

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

#197

Post by s73v3r_ »

brownell wrote: post #56
Taniwha wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is a 1st amendment issue - which doesn't say you have the right to say anything, it actually says that the government (and the president) cannot stop you from saying things - Trump blocking people on Twitter is exactly this

Excuse my ignorance... You're saying that if someone blocks you on Twitter you're no longer allowed to post something with their @handle? Or that they, as the blocker, just won't see it? If it's the former, then I would agree with you. If it's the latter, and you're not actually blocked from posting (saying) anything, then where exactly is the violation?

I believe it's the former.

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

#198

Post by ikeyany »

chimeracoder wrote: post #156
ikeyany wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can we use a more common example? If one of the ways to interact with the executive branch is by calling the white house, wouldn't telecoms banning you from having a phone number be a more similar analogy?

> If one of the ways to interact with the executive branch is by calling the white house, wouldn't telecoms banning you from having a phone number be a more similar analogy? No, because that's not what this ruling does. This ruling says that the White House can't block incoming calls from a specific number. (Though even that's not really a great analogy, because phone numbers are not considered to correspond uniquely…

The parent comment was about Twitter banning individuals, not about the ruling:

> Surely that must mean that Twitter banning people is also a violation of the first amendment

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

#199

Post by s73v3r_ »

commandlinefan wrote: post #175
dangoor wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not the same thing. Celebrities are not elected officials representing constituents. Perhaps if someone is actually running for office it makes a difference, but I'm not sure when these sorts of laws kick in.

Ok, then does it apply to the aides to a congressman who are actually handling their twitter feeds who are not themselves writing the laws? Any way you sum it up, either Trump should be able to block people, or nobody should be able to block people.

Is it the account of the elected representative? Then yes, it would apply. It doesn't matter if it's a surrogate actually making the posts.

And I highly disagree with the "all or nothing" approach you've laid out. The biggest difference is that Trump is an elected official. Most people are not.

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

#200

Post by xienze »

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.

Not really. I mean, what did we do before Twitter came along?

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