Supreme Court to hear Poway case on whether public officials can block people on social media

The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday it will take up a case from Poway Unified School District that tackles a contentious area of social media — when, and if, public officials can block people from their Facebook, Twitter or other social media accounts.

The difference in the rulings centered on whether blocking the accounts was a “state action.” The 9th Circuit concluded the social media pages of Zane and O’Connor-Ratcliff, where they regularly communicated about district business, were essentially public forums — akin to a school board meeting — and the two were acting as public officials when they used them.

That court said that the city manager had not “transformed” his personal Facebook page into an official forum simply by posting information about city policies and actions. Both Facebook pages of the school board members had been set up as part of the election campaigns of each in 2014, and O’Connor-Ratcliff set up a Twitter account in 2016.

Zane, who is no longer on the board, could not be reached for comment Monday. O’Connor-Ratcliff did not respond to an email seeking comment and neither did a lawyer for the district.

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