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. 

Podcast

Podcast

"Views on First: Speech & the Border"

At the frontiers of censorship and surveillance

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Social Media

Institute Update

A Note About the Knight Institute, X, and Bluesky

        

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Research

Essay Series

Permission to Speak Freely? Managing Government Employee Speech in a Democracy

A project exploring the law and politics of public employee speech

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Research

Essays and Scholarship

Silenced by Surveillance: The Impacts of Digital Transnational Repression on Journalists, Human Rights Defenders, and Dissidents in Exile

Findings from interviews with over 80 people living in the diaspora or in exile

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