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Staff warns commissioners social media can create open-meeting and First Amendment risks
Summary
Presenters told Newton commissioners that official social-media activity can be treated as a public forum, meaning deleting or blocking commenters can raise First Amendment issues; they advised separate official pages, narrow deletion policies and staff consultation.
City staff advised Newton commissioners that using social media in an official capacity carries legal risk because courts may treat such accounts as public forums, triggering First Amendment constraints on deleting or blocking commenters.
"Social media is considered a public forum based on case law," Speaker 4 said, adding that "you trigger first amendment issues" when elected officials open a forum for public interaction. Speaker 4 referenced a court decision cited in the presentation (named in the transcript as Linke v Bridal) as establishing a two-part test to determine whether an official…
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