On October 31, 2023 the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in two cases regarding the social media accounts of public officials.

The first case is on appeal from the 6th Circuit by an individual, Kevin Lindke, who is suing the city manager of Port Huron, Michigan, James Freed, for blocking him from Freed’s personal Facebook page. Freed contends that he is not an elected official and most of his Facebook feed consists of personal information. However, Lindke counters that Freed was also posting policy information at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic that he could not find anywhere else. Although Lindke has been incarcerated for stalking incidents and has engaged in allegedly aggressive behavior toward city council members, the bedrock constitutional principles at stake provide him with some compelling arguments.

In the second case, on appeal from the 9th Circuit, parents are suing two school board members in Poway, California for blocking them from their personal Facebook pages. Similarly, the board members argue that their pages were strictly personal and not an extension of their campaign pages.

While most appeals courts have ruled in favor of free speech, the split between the 6th Circuit (holding Freed did not use state authority to limit speech) and the 9th Circuit (holding public officials cannot block comments regardless of their persistence or intrusiveness) presents the Supreme Court with a novel question—does the First Amendment prevent public officials from quelling comments in online forums on their social media pages?

Attorneys for the government officials argue that the Supreme Court should guide future decisions by using an “authority test,” meaning the ownership and authorization of the social media accounts by the government should determine whether they are vested with “state authority.” Conversely, attorneys for the individuals argue that if the account is being used to perform the functions of a public official—i.e., answering questions about city services—the citizens interacting with that account should be protected by the First Amendment.

Former President Trump was similarly sued for blocking his detractors on Twitter (the social media site now known as X), but the lawsuit was dismissed. Given the more direct channels of communication between citizens and their local governments presented in these cases, the SCOTUS decision, which is expected in summer 2024, is certainly one to watch.