1. Podcasts
 / Modified mar 8, 2022 9:40 a.m.

Can your legislator block you on Twitter?

Public officials have used social media platforms to announce policies, share important information and shut out the constituents they do not like.
by Andrew Oxford

social media images phone hero

Gavel to Gavel: The Arizona Legislature

Gavel to Gavel for the week of March 7, 2022

NPR

As public officials have taken to social media in recent years, they have turned platforms like Twitter into a sort of electronic public square, using it to announce policies and share important information with constituents.

Some have also turned to blocking the constituents they do not agree with or that they do not like.

But can they even do that? What rights do the public have to engage with their elected officials online?

AZPM spoke with Aaron Mackey, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which has been working at the intersection of social media and the First Amendment.

MORE: Gavel to Gavel, News Feature, Politics
By posting comments, you agree to our
AZPM encourages comments, but comments that contain profanity, unrelated information, threats, libel, defamatory statements, obscenities, pornography or that violate the law are not allowed. Comments that promote commercial products or services are not allowed. Comments in violation of this policy will be removed. Continued posting of comments that violate this policy will result in the commenter being banned from the site.

By submitting your comments, you hereby give AZPM the right to post your comments and potentially use them in any other form of media operated by this institution.
AZPM is a service of the University of Arizona and our broadcast stations are licensed to the Arizona Board of Regents who hold the trademarks for Arizona Public Media and AZPM. We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples.
The University of Arizona