The US President was ordered to unblock the 41 Twitter accounts after a judge ruled the President that his tweets are public forums – and he was violating the users’ First Amendment rights by blocking them on the social media platform.
In May this year, seven users who had been blocked by Trump after they criticised the president, won a lawsuit after arguing that they had suffered “viewpoint discrimination”.
But the other 41 accounts which include comedians, authors, activists and journalists stayed blocked until their lawyers sent a letter to the U.S. Justice Department requesting that the President comply with the judge’s ruling.
The Department had complained about the decision, claiming that Trump’s @RealDonaldTrump Twitter account “belongs to Donald Trump in his personal capacity and is subject to his personal control, not the control of the government” (understatement of the century?)
While the judge disagreed, she did allow the President one concession. He can use a “mute” feature so he doesn’t have to see their posts – even though the users can now view and reply to his tweets again.
Sorry Mr President, you’ve just got to learn to take criticism on the chin – just like our pollies do here.
