Trump’s big blow: Federal appeals court rules in favour of Twitter critics
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A federal appeals court has ruled that US President Donald Trump cannot legally block users on Twitter based on their political differences with him. This affirms a lower court decision.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The three-judge panel agreed with last year’s ruling by a federal judge that Trump was using “viewpoint discrimination”, which is in violation of the constitutional rights of people with opposing views.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">According to </span><a href="https://www.news.com.au/technology/online/social/trump-cant-block-twitter-critics-federal-appeals-court-rules/news-story/fb2294bc60fa3fe2d97378945c2ed8f7"><span style="font-weight: 400;">news.com.au</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, the court sidestepped the question of the president’s free speech rights under the Constitution's First Amendment on a privately-owned internet platform. However, the court affirmed that Trump has created a public forum for official White House business.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The First Amendment does not permit a public official who utilises a social media account for all manner of official purposes to exclude persons from an otherwise-open online dialogue because they expressed views with which the official disagrees,” the judges wrote in a 29-page opinion.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Trump’s legal response is that he’s not acting in his official capacity when he blocks users, but the court disagreed.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The president and multiple members of his administration have described his use of the account as official,” the appeals court ruling said.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“We conclude that the evidence of the official nature of the account is overwhelming. We also conclude that once the president has chosen a platform and opened up its interactive space to millions of users and participants, he may not selectively exclude those whose views he disagrees with.”</span></p>
