A federal judge recently ruled that President Trump could not block users on Twitter based on their political views. The US Justice Department has announced that it will be seeking to appeal that decision. Many believed that Trump was not able to block users legally, as it is blocking their freedom of speech which is part of the constitution. Jameel Jaffer, who was one of the lawyers for the seven plaintiffs that sued stated that “we’re pleased that the White House unblocked our clients from the President’s Twitter account but disappointed that the government intends to appeal the district court’s thoughtful and well-supported ruling” after learning that the Justice Department is going to appeal the decision.
President Trump’s Twitter account has grown quite a bit since becoming President last year, and now has nearly 52 million followers. Since Trump is using this account to send out presidential tweets, many lawyers believe that Trump is unable to block anyone from the account, legally. The federal judge agreed and ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. Now that the Justice Department is looking to appeal that decision, it’ll be interesting to see what the income of the appeal is. Though it is pretty likely that the decision will not be overturned. The judge had ruled that the Twitter accounts of Trump and other government officials were public forums, where others are able to speak and express concern. Thus blocking users is illegal.
Trump has been a big fan of Twitter since it launched back in 2007. He believes that it gives him a direct connection to his fans and now the voters that put him in office. It’s something that he had vowed to continue using after he took office in January 2017, and he has done just that – for better or worse. However, it looks like he’ll have to unblock everyone that he has blocked over the years.