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Trainer warns: deleting constituent comments can violate First Amendment protections
Summary
Reiner summarized a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruling finding deleting constituent comments from an official's social-media page can violate the First Amendment; councilors were advised to consult the city attorney before deleting or moderating remarks.
Reiner reviewed a recent unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision involving a city manager’s social-media page and constituent comments. The presenter cautioned that officials who hold themselves out as public-office accounts cannot remove comments based on viewpoint without legal risk.
"The United States Supreme Court agreed unanimously, that the city manager could not delete the comments," Reiner said when summarizing the case and its implications. He recommended that councilors either use formal social-media moderation policies, limit comments across all posts, or consult the city attorney before removing content.
Councilors discussed possible responses, including turning off comments entirely for official pages or developing a consistent policy; staff said they would look into examples from other cities and share templates.
