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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

#92
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?

Pretty sure you can't directly reply to the Tweets of people who blocked you. So if Trump blocks someone on Twitter, they're no longer able to participate in conversations resulting from his tweets. (Unless they just make a new account, of course.)

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

#93

Surely that must mean that Twitter banning people is also a violation of the first amendment, since that prevents them from accessing the same "public square" this ruling is protecting their access to.

1st isn't the right to hearing, it's the right to speech (but not specifically speaking on Twitter)

It’s actually the right for government not to ban speech. It doesn’t apply to private entities.

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

#94
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

[deleted]

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

#95
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…

The limitations on government speech restrictions in public forums (including private venues used by government as such) are not new to this case [0], nor is it the first case (though it is by far the highest profile one) finding that those restrictions on government behavior apply to social media accounts controlled by government officials and agencies. [1]

[0] https://www.lawyers.com/legal-info/criminal/what-s-a-public-...

[1] http://amp.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2017/07/28/federal_c...

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

#96
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

[deleted]

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

#97
post #9

Will this apply to all government officials on twitter? Can twitter still ban a user if they deem the content to be harassment/etc?

> Will this apply to all government officials on twitter?

The limitations on public officials engaging in viewpoint censorship in a public forum, including a privately owned one, are not new, nor is this the first case where they have been applied to social media accounts. The rules do apply to all government agencies and officials, already, and not just “on Twitter”.

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

#98

"The judge declined to issue an order forcing Trump to unblock the users, saying her ruling should be sufficient to force a change in behavior." Because Trump is the master of sub-text and will pick up that he should unblock them.

Can you imagine a court appointed official sitting next to Trump watching him unblock everyone, one by one?

What a stupid situation.

Hopefully Twitter will throw him a bone and offer to mute everyone that was blocked on the back-end.

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

#99
post #9

Will this apply to all government officials on twitter? Can twitter still ban a user if they deem the content to be harassment/etc?

Not just government officials - it seems like the same logic would apply to celebrities like Alyssa Milano who use their twitter almost exclusively as a political campaign forum.

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

#100

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…

I think he should troll the court by blocking everyone except the people who have White House press passes. That way only they can participate in the conversation, as it has always been.
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