Skip to main content

President Trump is no longer allowed to block people on Twitter, court rules

President Trump blocked you on Twitter illustration
Image used with permission by copyright holder

President Donald Trump cannot block critics from viewing his Twitter feed, a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday.

A three-judge panel from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Trump violated the First Amendment by blocking people on Twitter who were critical of him and his policies, and that his account is considered a “public forum,” according to the New York Times. The court argued that no member of the American public should be barred from access to the views of the President. 

Judge Barrington D. Parker wrote the decision, which states that “the First Amendment does not permit a public official who utilizes a social media account for all manner of official purposes to exclude persons from an otherwise-open online dialogue because they expressed views with which the official disagrees.”

Tuesday’s ruling upheld the May 2018 decision by a Federal District in New York that Trump can’t block people. That court also ruled that Trump was violating the First Amendment by blocking critics on Twitter.

“While we must recognize, and are sensitive to, the president’s personal First Amendment rights, he cannot exercise those rights in a way that infringes the corresponding First Amendment rights of those who have criticized him,” said U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald in the 2018 decision. 

Both of these cases were the result of seven Twitter users who made comments about the President and his policies and were subsequently blocked in 2017. Reuters reported that among those Trump has blocked over the years include Stephen King, Rosie O’Donnell, Chrissy Teigen, and the military veteran political action committee VoteVets.org.

Tuesday’s decision comes on the heels of Trump criticizing Twitter, along with other big tech companies. Two weeks ago, Trump said that the U.S. government should sue Facebook and Google, as well as accusing Twitter of making it harder for users on the platform to find and follow his account. 

In June, Twitter announced new update to the platform that will add a notice on politicians’ tweets if the social network deems that it violate the social network’s rules. While Twitter did not specifically call out Trump in the blog post about the update, the new rules apply to him as a verified account government official with more than 100,000 followers (and Twitter’s most recognizable user).

Editors' Recommendations

Allison Matyus
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Allison Matyus is a general news reporter at Digital Trends. She covers any and all tech news, including issues around social…
Twitter finally allows you to soft block annoying followers
Twitter now allows you to remove anyone from your list of followers on the web.

Twitter has never been a place for sharp discussions of ways to take humanity forward, but maybe we'll be able to say that about it sometime in the future. To curb the profusion of trolls, annoying followers, and rudeness, Twitter is testing a new privacy-related feature that will let people soft block trolls. Twitter users will be able to remove a follower without blocking them -- and the follower who gets removed won't be notified of the change.

The company took to its platform via Twitter Support to announce the latest development. It revealed that Twitter is testing a way to make it easier for people to be the curator of their own follower list. All you need to do is go to the Followers section on your profile and click the three-dot icon next to a follower's name. Thenjust click on the Remove this follower option and you are done. Your tweets will not appear on their timeline anymore.

Read more
What is Section 230? Inside the legislation protecting social media
social media on phone

A little known piece of legislation called Section 230 is making headlines after President Donald Trump's latest effort to repeal the legislation, demanding that Congress fold that repeal in with another round of stimulus checks, defense spending, and the massive bill that keeps the lights on in Washington D.C. It seems politicians are alwasy struggling to wrap their heads around social media and "Big Tech," a silly term for the technology giants that have defined the modern era.

It's not the first time Section 230 made waves, of course. Trump signed an executive order in May that targeted social media platforms and the content on their sites, aiming to remove the protections of Section 230 in the Communications Decency Act. By repealing Section 230, social networks would be legally responsible for what people post on their platforms. The law that protects speech over the internet has been around for more than 20 years, but has been targeted by politicians of both major parties, including Democratic president-elect Joe Biden.

Read more
Next presidential debate will be virtual, but Trump says no
trump versus biden

UPDATE: President Trump has suggested he will refuse to take part in the debate if it's held remotely, telling Fox Business on Thursday morning: "I'm not going to waste my time on a virtual debate," adding, "You sit behind a computer and do a debate, it's ridiculous."

Next week’s second presidential debate between President Donald Trump and the Democratic hopeful, former Vice President Joe Biden, will take place virtually due to coronavirus concerns, the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) confirmed on Thursday, October 8.

Read more