Supreme Court to decide if officials can block constituents on social media

The Supreme Court will consider whether the First Amendment prohibits a public official from blocking constituents from personal social media accounts when those accounts are used to communicate with the public. The court took two cases for the term that begins in October 2023 to decide a digital-age issue that has been active in lower courts. In 2021, the justices dismissed a similar challenge to President Donald Trump’s efforts to block critics on Twitter, after he lost reelection and his Twitter account was suspended. The court’s decision will have implications nationwide for how public officials use social media accounts, which according to many lower courts function as public bulletin boards for officials and inform constituents about the business of government.