President Trump can not block his critics on Twitter, the federal court of appeal is pronounced

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In this photo from Tuesday, May 14, 2019, President Donald Trump addresses the media on the South Lawn of the White House. (Andrew Harnik / AP)

President Trump can not block his critics of the Twitter feed he regularly uses to communicate with the public, a federal court of appeal said Tuesday in a case that would have implications on how national elected officials interact with voters on social networks.

The decision of the court of appeal based in New York confirms an earlier ruling that Trump had violated the First Amendment when he had blocked individual users criticizing the president or his policy.

"The First Amendment does not allow a public official who uses a social network account for all kinds of official purposes to exclude people from an otherwise open online dialogue because he has expressed points of view with which the agent disagrees, "wrote Judge Barrington D. Parker in the unanimous decision of the US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit.

[Trump’s Twitter habits are affecting how local politicians behave online]

Trump's habits on Twitter, via his @realDonaldTrump account, were at the heart of the case filed by seven people blocked after posting disapproving comments in 2017.

The First Amendment prevents the government from blocking or excluding points of view with which it disagrees in what it is agreed to call "point of view discrimination". The Supreme Court did not directly explain how the law applies to expand the digital spaces of public debate, and the case involving the account of the president – with millions of followers – was a high level legal test.

Elected officials from across the country are also learning to understand how these principles apply to their social media accounts. The decision of the New York-based Court of Appeal echoes an earlier decision of the Richmond-based Court of Appeals involving the Facebook page of a Virginia politician.