BOISE, Idaho — As technology evolves, so does the law. In recent years a big question in Idaho, can elected officials block you from a social media page, or is it a violation of free speech laws?
"We've gotten dozens of complaints really from community members over the last few years. I'd say they really picked up, I think in 2020. It was a very kind of dynamic legislative session, let's say, then, and in 2021 as well. And it led to a lot of folks being blocked,” said Aadika Singh, Legal Director for ACLU Idaho.
The ACLU team researched the blocking question and it's interaction with things like the first amendment as they continue to get inquiries about it from Idahoans.
"We found that folks might have had real legitimate claims under the First Amendment,” Singh said. “We were really hammered with dozens maybe close to a couple of hundred complaints over the last couple of years. Really our belief is that it shouldn't take a lawsuit for public officials to follow the law." Singh said.
So how do you know if you're in a situation where you've been blocked on social media by an elected official and you're wondering, are they allowed to do that?
The ACLU put together a toolkit that includes a flowchart. The chart gets into the intricacy of if a page is a government page or a personal page that happens to be run by someone who is an elected official?
"First question, look on the page, a Facebook page or the Twitter presence, the Web page, and see if it says the title of the government official. See if there's information that is related to government contact information, an official government email address, phone number. Ask yourself whether this person is using this page to promote policy to discuss issues," Singh said.
This past week, Idaho House Rep. Chad Christensen posted on his public Facebook page about his current battle over blocking Idahoans from his Facebook page. Christensen argues that "They think it is a 1st Amendment right, because I am a politician. Also, this is mainly a campaign page, not an official government page. There has been precedent set on that."
It is interesting to note, Christensen did change the name of this same Facebook page back in May. Transparency data from Facebook reflects that the page was named "Representative Chad Christensen" until May 8th, when it changed to "Re-Elect Rep. Chad Christensen". Important to note, the change took place shortly before the May Primary election. In general, Singh said look at the historical use of a page in question if there is a simple name change.
"I think you have to look at the history of the public officials use of this particular forum. If it started out as a forum that was not a campaign forum, that likely remains an official forum, an official public forum in which that interaction with the public cannot be blocked. So, again, just, you know, what was the history of this person's interaction with that page would be the critical question that courts would seek to answer," Singh said.
It does go both ways, if a citizen is acting totally inappropriate on a government page or breaking page rules, that can open the door for justified blocking.
"Want to make sure that you work within that policy. You want to make sure that you weren't using profanity or seeking to use profanity, but you weren't threatening this person or personally attacking that person or trying to sell something. You also want to take note as to whether you were warned. You know, maybe this public official felt threatened, physically threatened by your comment,” Singh said.
So, what do you do if you really feel wronged? The ACLU says the first thing you should do is reach out and asked to be unblocked. If no luck, there is an option to file a lawsuit over it.
There are damages that can be collected if a court rules a government page has violated speech rights by blocking someone or deleting comments.
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