Governor of Maryland agrees to stop blocking Facebook users who disagree with him

Gov Larry Hogan (R-MD) allegedly had a habit of blocking Facebook users and deleting comments when people criticized him, but a lawsuit has forced him to adopt a more open social media policy. Four Maryland residents sued the governor in a US District Court in August 2017, with help from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Maryland. The ACLU announced that a settlement has been finalized, requiring Gov Hogan to implement a new social media policy within two weeks. The state is also required to pay $65,000 to the plaintiffs. The new social media policy will apply to Hogan's accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and YouTube. The settlement "mandates that the governor will not discriminate based on viewpoint, and will permit all commentary on his Facebook page on any past topic he has covered," the ACLU said. The lawsuit alleged that Gov Hogan and his staff deleted comments and blocked users if their comments were "'similar' to a poster's prior comments, or if they parallel those made by other posters." The settlement also "mandates the creation of a second Facebook page dedicated to providing a public forum where constituents can raise a host of issues for the governor's attention, and creates an appeals process for constituents who feel their comments have been improperly deleted, or that they have been wrongfully blocked," the ACLU said. The governor's office can still block comments that link to or contain malware, ads, profanity, nudity, threats of violence, copyrighted materials, and confidential or private information, among other things. But any content removed must be retained for one year, giving users time to challenge the removal. Gov Hogan did not admit to any wrongdoing in the settlement.