Donald Trump cannot block critical Twitter users, court rules

[Belsnickel]

(05-31-2018, 08:50 AM)fredtoast Wrote: Any official statement needs to be made through a press release.  Lots of people don't use twitter.  So there is no purpose for an "official" twitter account.

But since Trump makes policy statements on his twitter account he should not be allowed to block part of the public from seeing them.

I don't disagree that there are more traditional avenues for an official statement. How many people don't know how to access press releases? You're thinking of Twitter as a replacement for these traditional communication methods whereas the way the public sector is trying to use social media in general is to expand our reach. These methods aren't replacements, they help make sure the information is received by more people. You still put out press releases, you still hold press conferences, you still give television addresses and hold town halls. But in addition to that, you tweet about this information, you Facebook live a press conference. Access to information is a big part of a democratic society and social media is one way to help that access.

The issue is that the messaging needs to be uniform. When you have an official statement on social media that contradicts a statement in a press pool that contradicts something from a cabinet spokesperson, you show that you don't know what the **** you're doing. That's what we're into now.

But, these official accounts should not be able to block access to them, and that is the view of the courts.