Today, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond reversed a lower court ruling in Bland v. Roberts that said simply "liking" a Facebook page was insufficient speech to merit constitutional protection.
U.S. Circuit Judge William Traxler wrote, "liking a political candidate’s campaign page communicates the user’s approval of the candidate and supports the campaign by associating the user with it.”. . . “[I]t is the Internet equivalent of displaying a political sign in one’s front yard, which the Supreme Court has held is substantive speech.”
The Court issued its ruling in a lawsuit brought by former employees of a sheriff’s office who said they lost their jobs because they supported their boss’s opponent, partly by endorsing a campaign page on Facebook. Click here to read more.
Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat
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