![]() Randall countered that she has the authority to control the page’s content - including the comments. The critic, Brian Davison, represented by the Knight First Amendment Institute, filed a lawsuit arguing that Randall had violated his First Amendment rights by removing him from a public forum - space the government makes available for people’s expressive activity - because she disagreed with his views. The case arose after the chair of a local board of supervisors in Virginia, Phyllis Randall, briefly blocked a critic from her official Facebook page and deleted a comment he made about her colleagues’ management of public funds. ![]() On Monday, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the interactive portion of a public official’s Facebook page is a “public forum,” so an official cannot block people from it because of the opinions they hold. So, if your elected representative has an official Facebook page where she invites comments, can she block you from commenting because you criticize her work?Īccording to a federal appeals court, the answer is a resounding no. One of the core purposes of the First Amendment is to allow people, regardless of their views, to hold the government accountable through expression.
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