Today, most political and social discussion occurs in the digital sphere, often on peoples' social media platforms. Seeing this, some public officials have opened Facebook and Twitter accounts to share important updates and engage with their constituents. But what happens when the official wants to remove a user who is posting critical feedback? This teacher guide uses the Knight First Amendment Institute v. Trump to show how First Amendment principles like public forum and viewpoint discrimination apply online.
Campus Speech Group Publishes Report on Internet Expression
The report details 35 incidents of universities punishing students or faculty for speech online, and 10 universities with policies in place that FIRE says give administrators “immense power to punish large swaths of speech.” According to the advocacy group, many public universities are acting like the First Amendment applies differently to online speech.
Tech Group Sues Over Trump’s Executive Order that Targets Social Media Platforms
On June 2nd, the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s executive order that authorizes federal agencies to review Section 230, a law that protects social media companies from lawsuits over the content published on their sites.
D.C. Circuit Rejects Laura Loomer’s First Amendment Lawsuit Against Tech Giants
The D.C. Circuit refused to revive a lawsuit filed by the conservative blogger Laura Loomer against Twitter, Facebook, Apple, and Google for allegedly conspiring to censor conservative views.
Trump Signs Order Curtailing Protections for Social Media Companies
On May 28th, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that aims to roll back legal protections for social media platforms. His order was immediately met with withering criticism from First Amendment experts.
Babson College Fires Professor For Joke He Made on Private Facebook Account
Asheen Phansey was fired on Thursday for a satirical Facebook post he made about President Donald Trump’s threat to bomb 52 sites “important to Iran & Iranian culture.”
While requests to remove threatening comments in defamation cases are not unheard of, this order stood out because it required the defendants to delete not only their own posts but also the comments made by third parties.
Facebook Will Remove Misleading Posts About the U.S. Census, Including Political Ads
The new policy will ban “misleading information about when and how to participate in the census and the consequences of participating." Despite previous resistance to regulate them, the new policy will apply to advertisements bought by politicians.