So You Got Blocked by a Politician on Social Media  

But with the rise of social media and virtual advocacy opportunities, the avenues for the public to speak with their elected officials have expanded. Facebook comments and Twitter retweets are replacing the public meeting and Zoom meetings have been used in place of public forums. In fact, the Supreme Court recently called these avenues, “the modern public square,” where constituents can “petition their elected representatives and otherwise engage with them in a direct manner.”

That means they cannot engage in most forms of censorship such as blocking someone or deleting someone’s comments just because of their subject or opinion. It is also generally unacceptable for the official to ask the platform to delete comments for them. But it’s not all that straightforward, sift through the list of commonly asked questions below.