I have been thinking about this today, A LOT!
Soon to be resigning Republican state Senator Stace Nelson is being sued by a second-year University of South Dakota law student in Vermillion for kicking him off his Facebook page.
Jeff Church says in the complaint filed in federal court in Sioux Falls that Nelson’s Facebook page is a public forum.
Church says by not letting him comment on his posts, Nelson is denying him his First Amendment rights.
It may be a pretty cut and dry case;
Earlier this year, a federal appeals court said that President Donald Trump could not block his critics on Twitter and this is account was a “public forum.”
I think where it could get complicated is if Jeff was threatening physical harm to Nelson or his family (actual harm NOT hyperbole) he could have a case. But as I told an elected official tonight who asked my opinion on it I said, “Whether that is you, Mayor TenHaken, Councilor Neitzert or Nelson, if you are using your FB page as a public forum to get out public information, you have opened yourself to a public platform, and as a public official, you can’t curb free speech.” We also talked about what I said above, if people are actually threatening you, you have a different case. But I do know for a fact that Councilors Neitzert, Stehly, Erickson and Mayor TenHaken have all blocked commenters they don’t agree with. This case may overturn all that ‘blocking’. I don’t know enough law to make an educated guess, but it seems the Federal ruling may stand.
I have suggested to Stehly in the past she just put up a blog like I have so you can moderate the idiots. Because on FB, it is a FREE for ALL for idiots, and why ANY politician would want to start a discussion on an issue over there is beyond me.
The irony of all this is that Cameraman Bruce and I have told the TenHaken administration several times to NOT use Facebook to get out information or start a ‘public’ discussion. They should use the city’s official website FIRST and SECONDLY hold a PUBLIC press conference or open house to have a discussion with the public and the media.
And for the record, I don’t block many comments. If you are being libelous about someone or you call me a fat little idiot, you will probably be deleted of even blocked. In fact I have blocked OR edited many of my main commenters several times. Ironically they have thanked me in an email by saying “Thanks for deleting/editing my comment, I wasn’t thinking.” And on FB, there isn’t a lot of thinkers.
UPDATE: I have told Stehly not to block people’s opinions, but I really got a chuckle out of this;
Councilors Christine Erickson and Greg Neitzert say they’ve also been blocked by Stehly. Stehly asserts those two blocked her first, though both Neitzert and Erickson insist they do not block anyone from seeing their Facebook pages.
“I will say I have no one blocked nor do I recall ever blocking her,” Neitzert said.
Yeah, Greg, and monkeys fly from my ass. Like I said already, I don’t care if it is Theresa, Greg or any other elected official, you shouldn’t block citizen’s comments on a public forum when you are a public official (comments AND friends both). But to say he is innocent is a stretch. Neitzert shut down sfmeetings.org earlier this year without the consent of co-creators of the site. I won’t go into any more detail than that, but let’s just say, all the damn hand sanitizer in the world won’t clean Lady MacNeitzert’s hands.
l3wis