Roach has blocked activist Randy Scott from posting on Roach’s campaign Facebook page.
The Lehigh Acres Gazette has tried to reach Roach multiple ways and times with no response.
Scott has filed a Federal lawsuit against Roach Case # 2:20 – CV-25- FTM-38MRM Click here to read it.
This lawsuit raises the questions of whether government or a political candidate such as the Spencer Roach is obligated to respect the rights of speech on social media when the speech is critical of the government or employee of the people or if it can simply delete comments that could paint, he in a bad light.
In July of 2019, a New York Federal appeals court upheld a lower court decision from 2018, which disallowed President Trump to block his critics and naysayers from his personal Twitter account. This decision set a first-time precedent stipulating that “the First Amendment does not permit a public official who utilizes a social media account for all manner of official purposes to exclude persons from an otherwise‐open online dialogue because they expressed views with which the official disagrees,” wrote Judge Parker, who was nominated to the appeals court by President George W. Bush.
Many government critics have experienced similar censorship when they post comments on tax-payer funded social media. If Rep Roach has nothing to hide, he could use social media effectively to serve the public.
But one thing is obvious: If you are inviting feedback, only to delete comments or ban citizens that are critical, that can probably be defined as censorship.
