Steve Burns
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON – (WMAL) The Maryland ACLU has filed suit in federal court, alleging free speech violations in the blocks and comment deletions on Maryland Governor Larry Hogan’s official Facebook page. The suit involves four individuals who say they were censored on Hogan’s page. It also names two of the Governor’s aides, including Communications Director Douglass Mayer.
“The First Amendment protects free speech, especially in forums created by our government for the exchange and interchange of ideas,” Attorney Lisa Zycherman, who is representing the ACLU and the four individuals, told WMAL. “Governor Hogan’s official Facebook page is a public forum. In that forum, he has to follow certain rules established by the Constitution, and in this case he’s not allowed to discriminate based on the viewpoints expressed by the commenters.”
Amelia Chasse, a spokeswoman for Hogan, called the lawsuit “frivolous,” saying in a statement “…we will continue to remove all hateful and violent content and coordinated spam attacks to foster an open and constructive dialogue.”
Zycherman said the comments that led to blocks came from constituents challenging the Governor on his viewpoints on issues like the Muslim travel ban and letting in Syrian refugees. Another was blocked after she complained about others being blocked, Zycherman said.
“When she subsequently posted a comment about having to become un-blocked, she was blocked again,” Zycherman said.
Zycherman points to a recent court decision out of Loudoun County, which found a similar free speech violation in the policing of comments on Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Phyllis Randall’s page. She said Mayer, Hogan’s Communications Director and one of the defendants, had previously pointed to Hogan’s Facebook page as a cornerstone of the Governor’s communications strategy.
“We quote him in the complaint from comments he made to the Washingotn Post regarding the importance of this Facebook page to Governor Hogan’s ability to connect with and hear from his constituents,” Zycherman said. “The fact that the Governor would like to sanitize the page and erase comments that displease him is really unfortunate.”
Copyright 2017 by WMAL.com. All Rights Reserved. (PHOTO: WMAL file)
