Hacker News Reader

Comment by nathan_long | Hacker News Reader

Is the issue is whether the official reads someone's messages, or whether their critic's messages show up for others to see?

View on HN

The issue is whether any of the moderation activities for this Facebook "Page" were done under color of law (the courts held that they were), in which case those activities have to comply with the Constitution.

Almost certainly the latter. That's why people sued over getting blocked by Trump - it prevents folks from making themselves more famous via posting sick burns in the replies to Trump tweets. I'd be surprised if Trump reads any replies to his tweets whatsoever.

> it prevents folks from making themselves more famous via posting sick burns in the replies to Trump tweets

That's a rather cynical take. Imagine a politician you disagree with - be they a fascist, communist, libertarian, or whatever - tweeting something blatantly false. And imagine that they block replies by everyone who contradicts them, making their replies a chorus of agreement. Wouldn't that seem to be an impediment to civil discourse?

Yeah, it would. And it'd be a great case for a non-profit centered around issues like that. It's just honestly difficult to justify spending tens of thousands of dollars of your own money on that lawsuit without getting some kind of angle out of it.

> Yeah, it would. And it'd be a great case for a non-profit centered around issues like that.

Indeed.

https://knightcolumbia.org/content/knight-institute-v-trump-...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com