A federal judge ruled Wednesday that President Donald Trump may not block people on Twitter over the political views they share on social media. Siding with the Knight First Amendment Institute in a lawsuit against Trump and his communications team, U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald in New York concluded that blocking people on Twitter violated their First Amendment rights. Trump was engaging in unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination by blocking critics in a “public forum,” the court ruled. “We hold that portions of the @realDonaldTrump account ― the ‘interactive space’ where Twitter users may directly engage with the content of the President’s tweets ― are properly analyzed under the ‘public forum’ doctrines set forth by the Supreme Court,” Buchwald said in her ruling. Twitter is often the first communication channel Trump turns to when making major announcements.
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