# Is Twitter-blocking by The President a violation of the 1st Amendment? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 7, 2017, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-twitter-blocking-by-the-president-a-violation-of-the-1st-amendment/788366 "2017-06-07T16:47:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-twitter-blocking-by-the-president-a-violation-of-the-1st-amendment/788366/21 "2017-06-07T22:40:05Z")
For some actual informed analysis: > **[Opinion | Is @RealDonaldTrump violating the First Amendment by blocking some...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/06/06/is-realdonaldtrump-violating-the-first-amendment-by-blocking-some-twitter-users/)** > > It's complicated. I agree with the last paragraph, and I think this probably IS state action. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-twitter-blocking-by-the-president-a-violation-of-the-1st-amendment/788366/22 "2017-06-07T23:22:27Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > What do you mean they can’t read it? I don’t have a Twitter account _at all_ and I can read his tweets: [x.com](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump) > > I suppose “a segment of Americans” without computers / smart phones / Internet access can’t read them either, but the same lack-of-access argument could have been made about Americans who didn’t own a television back in JFK’s day, or a radio in FDR’s day, or were illiterate in Washington’s day. Do we know if those that tweet but have been blocked can still read the tweets from those that block them? ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-twitter-blocking-by-the-president-a-violation-of-the-1st-amendment/788366/23 "2017-06-07T23:26:50Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Do we know if those that tweet but have been blocked can still read the tweets from those that block them? It doesn’t just require logging out? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-twitter-blocking-by-the-president-a-violation-of-the-1st-amendment/788366/24 "2017-06-07T23:41:37Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > It doesn’t just require logging out? I don’t know-that’s why I am asking those who might have been blocked, or know someone who has. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-twitter-blocking-by-the-president-a-violation-of-the-1st-amendment/788366/25 "2017-06-07T23:48:31Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > For some actual informed analysis: > > [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/06/06/is-realdonaldtrump-violating-the-first-amendment-by-blocking-some-twitter-users/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/06/06/is-realdonaldtrump-violating-the-first-amendment-by-blocking-some-twitter-users/) > > I agree with the last paragraph, and I think this probably IS state action. That makes sense. If it’s government property, all must have access, unless there is a compelling government interest to limit certain people. If it’s Trump’s personal property, _no problema_. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-twitter-blocking-by-the-president-a-violation-of-the-1st-amendment/788366/26 "2017-06-07T23:59:33Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > That makes sense. If it’s government property, all must have access, unless there is a compelling government interest to limit certain people. If it’s Trump’s personal property, _no problema_. Which is why the official declaration from the official press secretary that anything coming from that Twitter account is officially official makes me think there is a problem. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-twitter-blocking-by-the-president-a-violation-of-the-1st-amendment/788366/27 "2017-06-08T02:57:21Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Which is why the official declaration from the official press secretary that anything coming from that Twitter account is officially official makes me think there is a problem. The press secretary cannot, by his utterance, transform a Twitter account created by Trump well before he became a candidate into an official government asset. That’s prohibited by the Takings Clause. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-twitter-blocking-by-the-president-a-violation-of-the-1st-amendment/788366/28 "2017-06-08T03:16:54Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Do we know if those that tweet but have been blocked can still read the tweets from those that block them? Yes, they would have to log out of their Twitter account though, and then they can access it just like I do without a Twitter account. ---
**Author:** ![Translucent\_Daydream](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/translucent_daydream/32/16170_2.png) [@Translucent\_Daydream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Translucent_Daydream)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-twitter-blocking-by-the-president-a-violation-of-the-1st-amendment/788366/29 "2017-06-08T07:34:35Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > Yes, they would have to log out of their Twitter account though, and then they can access it just like I do without a Twitter account. The question that comes to mind is… why block anyone at all then? Does DT understand how this works? I don’t have twitter so I wouldn’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-twitter-blocking-by-the-president-a-violation-of-the-1st-amendment/788366/30 "2017-06-08T07:58:48Z")
> [@Translucent\_Daydream](#): > > The question that comes to mind is… why block anyone at all then? The main purpose of blocking is to stop the other person from interacting with you. For example, if someone else is harassing you, you block them so _you_ don’t see it, and they can no longer directly reply to your tweets. I believe the Trump blocks are aimed at stopping people from using the tweets to promote their own agenda in the replies, not stopping them from _seeing_ the tweets. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-twitter-blocking-by-the-president-a-violation-of-the-1st-amendment/788366/31 "2017-06-08T11:24:54Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > Yes, they would have to log out of their Twitter account though, and then they can access it just like I do without a Twitter account. Thanks for the clarification. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-twitter-blocking-by-the-president-a-violation-of-the-1st-amendment/788366/32 "2017-06-08T13:30:02Z")
> [@Translucent\_Daydream](#): > > The question that comes to mind is… why block anyone at all then? Does DT understand how this works? I don’t have twitter so I wouldn’t know. I obviously have no idea if President Trump knows, but given that he’s an avid Twitter user and neither of us are, there’s a good chance that he knows a lot more about how it works than both of us combined. As for why, as a non-Twitterer myself, I can only hazard a guess: I think he does it to keep the tweets of those people from showing up in his Twitter timeline. Imagine someone who replied to every Donald Trump tweet with something like “F\*\*\* YOU orange Cheeto!”. By blocking that person, it’s my outsiders’ understanding that he no longer sees that annoying reply to his tweets. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-twitter-blocking-by-the-president-a-violation-of-the-1st-amendment/788366/33 "2017-06-08T13:32:06Z")
Considering how easy it is to read a twitter feed even if they blocked you (just log out of twitter, or open a private browser window), this seems pretty damn silly to me. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-twitter-blocking-by-the-president-a-violation-of-the-1st-amendment/788366/34 "2017-06-08T13:33:45Z")
In a world of purity and reason, I would say that the First Amendment would prevent the Executive from acting to deny peaceable protest in even the smallest of forms. In that world, banning people on Twitter would not be excusable. In the real world, even Donald Trump deserves time to sleep, to relax and unwind, etc. and so to be able to choose whether he is interested in engaging with any particular member of the public or not. It would be better if he simple blocked his own view of the person, but if Twitter doesn’t allow such a thing, I’m not too fussed by this minimal transgression of or civil rights. This doesn’t feel like the entry point to a snowballing effect on our abilities to criticize the government. The complaint that he is deleting specific tweets is a greater issue, and even there it probably doesn’t matter because the information is almost certainly attainable via some means. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-twitter-blocking-by-the-president-a-violation-of-the-1st-amendment/788366/35 "2017-06-08T13:39:19Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Which is why the official declaration from the official press secretary that anything coming from that Twitter account is officially official makes me think there is a problem. Does the press secretary have the authority to make something “official”? Suppose, during arguments before the court, Trump were to declare that Spicey was never authorized to say that. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-twitter-blocking-by-the-president-a-violation-of-the-1st-amendment/788366/36 "2017-06-08T14:11:01Z")
> [@Anny\_Middon](#): > > Why doesn’t the White House disable all comments on his tweets? I’m serious. If he doesn’t allow comments that disagree with him, what value is there to the comments except to stroke his fragile ego? (OK, I suspect that’s exactly what President Snowflake wants, but I don’t think it’s healthy.) Judging by his physique, I doubt “healthy” is very high on his agenda, either physical or mental. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-twitter-blocking-by-the-president-a-violation-of-the-1st-amendment/788366/37 "2017-06-08T14:25:21Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > Imagine someone who replied to every Donald Trump tweet with something like “F\*\*\* YOU orange Cheeto!”. By blocking that person, it’s my outsiders’ understanding that he no longer sees that annoying reply to his tweets. Imagination is fun to play with sometimes, but who is he _actually_ banning, and for what kinds of tweets? [Here is a Washington Post article](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2017/06/07/how-getting-blocked-by-trump-on-twitter-became-a-badge-of-honor/?utm_term=.15d23c5402e6) on what it takes to get banned from his account, and apparently it doesn’t take much. BTW, [here is a brand new article on this subject](https://www.wired.com/2017/06/trumps-habit-twitter-blocking-may-violate-first-amendment/) from _Wired_ magazine. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-twitter-blocking-by-the-president-a-violation-of-the-1st-amendment/788366/38 "2017-06-08T15:36:59Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I’m sorry, but I distinctly remember posting a direct > quote from the President’s own press secretary that stated that anything posted from his so-called “private” Twitter is to considered “…official statements by the President of the United States” > > This puts it far beyond the personal conversation level, I think. Do you believe that statements uttered by the White House Press Secretary are legally binding? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-twitter-blocking-by-the-president-a-violation-of-the-1st-amendment/788366/39 "2017-06-08T15:45:54Z")
> [@](#): > > Not only can people the President has blocked not interact with him, the Knight Foundation points out, but also they have a very hard time seeing what he is saying: They cannot view his Tweets on his timeline, nor can they easily find them in search results. The President uses Twitter? Gosh, this is the first I’ve heard of it. I think my First Amendment rights are being violated if I and every other American isn’t automatically given a Twitter account, so we can immediately access all his twits. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-twitter-blocking-by-the-president-a-violation-of-the-1st-amendment/788366/40 "2017-06-08T15:52:03Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > Do you believe that statements uttered by the White House Press Secretary are legally binding? I think that if The President’s Own Press Secretary was saying something that wasn’t factually correct as far as the White House is concerned, they wouldn’t be letting him say it during press conferences at the White House. I don’t know what standard you are looking for before we can start considering an issued statement to be official-maybe White house lawyers giving sworn testimony before Congress itself? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-twitter-blocking-by-the-president-a-violation-of-the-1st-amendment/788366.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-twitter-blocking-by-the-president-a-violation-of-the-1st-amendment/788366.md?page=3)