When does blocking people on social media violate the First Amendment? When you're a public official—maybe. Whether elected officials and government employees can smash that block button has been debated for years. Now that question heads before the U.S. Supreme Court, which announced this week that it would hear two cases concerning local officials blocking people critical of them.
Lindke v. Freed revolves around the distinction between official and personal social media accounts. James Freed, the city manager of Port Huron, Michigan, deleted a critical comment that Kevin Lindke posted to Freed's personal Facebook page. He then blocked Lindke. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit said that because Freed used his Facebook account in a personal capacity and not in his capacity as a public official, blocking Lindke did not violate the First Amendment.
