Public Officials and Social Media
Melinda Beck

Blog

Public Officials and Social Media

Through groundbreaking litigation such as Knight Institute v. Trump—a lawsuit challenging former President Trump's practice of blocking critics from his Twitter account—the Institute has been instrumental in establishing a basic principle: once public officials open up an online space for expressive activity to the public at large, the First Amendment prohibits them from excluding speakers on the basis of viewpoint. Courts throughout the country have invoked this case to preclude other public officials from silencing their social media critics. 

This blog channel highlights the Institute’s ongoing work in this area and explores the many challenging First Amendment questions that continue to emerge. 

Research

Institute Update

Call for Participation: Federal Funding and the First Amendment

    

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Research

Essays and Scholarship

Protecting Immigrant Activists From U.S. Government Retaliation: Lessons From First Amendment Litigation

Immigrant activists in the U.S. face legal and structural barriers when fighting First Amendment retaliation. 

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Litigation

Lawsuit

Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York v. USDA

A case challenging USDA’s purge of climate-related webpages.

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Research

Essays and Scholarship

Into the Driver’s Seat With Social Media Content Feeds

Using vehicles as an analogy, a proposed classification framework for algorithmic feeds

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