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Supreme Court: Social Media Essential for Free Speech

The court decided that a registered sex offender should not have been banned under a 2008 North Carolina law that forbids people on the sex offender registry from interacting with minors online.

By Tom Brant
June 19, 2017
DON'T USE Facebook Fatigue

Preventing criminals from accessing social media is a violation of their First Amendment rights, the Supreme Court decided on Monday.

In an 8-0 decision, the court said that registered sex offender Lester Packingham should not have been banned from Facebook under a 2008 North Carolina law that makes it a felony for people on the state's sex offender registry to use online services that can lead to social interactions with minors, Reuters reported.

Writing for the court, Justice Anthony Kennedy explained that Packingham's case was the first time the Supreme Court had addressed the relationship between the First Amendment and the "modern internet." Social media facilitates communication and access to information, Kennedy argued, so its access cannot be revoked, even for convicted criminals.

"With one broad stroke, North Carolina bars access to what for many are the principal sources for knowing current events, checking ads for employment, speaking and listening in the modern public square, and otherwise exploring the vast realms of human thought and knowledge," he wrote. "Foreclosing access to social media altogether thus prevents users from engaging in the legitimate exercise of First Amendment rights."

Law enforcement caught Packingham violating the law in 2010 after he wrote a post expressing relief that a state court dismissed his traffic ticket. "How about I got so much favor they dismissed the ticket before court even started?" he wrote, according to the court's decision. "No fine, no court cost, no nothing spent. . . . . .Praise be to GOD, WOW!"

The case eventually reached the Supreme Court, with Justice Elena Kagan noting during oral arguments in February that President Donald Trump's Twitter account was an example of how important social media is in the political sphere, according to Reuters.

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About Tom Brant

Deputy Managing Editor

I’m the deputy managing editor of the hardware team at PCMag.com. Reading this during the day? Then you've caught me testing gear and editing reviews of laptops, desktop PCs, and tons of other personal tech. (Reading this at night? Then I’m probably dreaming about all those cool products.) I’ve covered the consumer tech world as an editor, reporter, and analyst since 2015.

I’ve evaluated the performance, value, and features of hundreds of personal tech devices and services, from laptops to Wi-Fi hotspots and everything in between. I’ve also covered the launches of dozens of groundbreaking technologies, from hyperloop test tracks in the desert to the latest silicon from Apple and Intel.

I've appeared on CBS News, in USA Today, and at many other outlets to offer analysis on breaking technology news.

Before I joined the tech-journalism ranks, I wrote on topics as diverse as Borneo's rain forests, Middle Eastern airlines, and Big Data's role in presidential elections. A graduate of Middlebury College, I also have a master's degree in journalism and French Studies from New York University.

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