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Trump admitted that he blocked people because he disagreed with their viewpoint. That is a clear-cut violation of the First Amendment. Time, place and manner re

Trump admitted that he blocked people because he disagreed with their viewpoint. That is a clear-cut violation of the First Amendment. Time, place and manner restrictions are okay; viewpoint based restrictions are not. Twitter is also not being restricted at all. They can block anyone that they want. The government, however, must choose a platform that is compatible with people's First Amendment rights, so if Twitter starts being overly restrictive the government must choose a different platform to use.

nv-vn 9y ago
> That is a clear-cut violation of the First Amendment. The problem is, he has not censored their speech. The message still goes out, it just never reaches Trump's mailbox. Like I stated in the above comment, the First Amendment does not guarantee an audience. Trump has not stopped messages from being tweeted, just from those tweets reaching him. > Twitter is also not being restricted at all. They can block anyone that they want. By setting a precedent that Twitter, as a private organization, can be the provider of a public space for free speech, does that not force them to keep everyone's views on the platform?
- TheCoelacanth 9y ago
  > Trump has not stopped messages from being tweeted, just from those tweets reaching him. Incorrect. You are describing what would happen if he "muted" the accounts. He didn't do that; he "blocked" them. That has much broader effects such as preventing them from following his messages or publicly replying to his messages. He has created a public forum with his tweets and then allowed some people to participate in that forum and disallowed some people from participating solely based on their viewpoints. That is textbook censorship. > By setting a precedent that Twitter, as a private organization, can be the provider of a public space for free speech, does that not force them to keep everyone's views on the platform? No. Twitter is not forced to do anything. Trump is forced to choose a communications platform that is compatible with his First Amendment obligations. If Twitter does not allow him to meet those obligations he must choose a different communications platform. He cannot avoid the First Amendment simply by conducting his communications through a third party.

nv-vn 9y ago

> That is a clear-cut violation of the First Amendment. The problem is, he has not censored their speech. The message still goes out, it just never reaches Trump's mailbox. Like I stated in the above comment, the First Amendment does not guarantee an audience. Trump has not stopped messages from being tweeted, just from those tweets reaching him. > Twitter is also not being restricted at all. They can block anyone that they want. By setting a precedent that Twitter, as a private organization, can be the provider of a public space for free speech, does that not force them to keep everyone's views on the platform?

TheCoelacanth 9y ago
> Trump has not stopped messages from being tweeted, just from those tweets reaching him. Incorrect. You are describing what would happen if he "muted" the accounts. He didn't do that; he "blocked" them. That has much broader effects such as preventing them from following his messages or publicly replying to his messages. He has created a public forum with his tweets and then allowed some people to participate in that forum and disallowed some people from participating solely based on their viewpoints. That is textbook censorship. > By setting a precedent that Twitter, as a private organization, can be the provider of a public space for free speech, does that not force them to keep everyone's views on the platform? No. Twitter is not forced to do anything. Trump is forced to choose a communications platform that is compatible with his First Amendment obligations. If Twitter does not allow him to meet those obligations he must choose a different communications platform. He cannot avoid the First Amendment simply by conducting his communications through a third party.