Blocked on Facebook by official, Springfield voter says his rights were violated

Update: Fulnecky said she was told by former City Attorney Dan Wichmer that campaign social media pages are considered personal pages.

More than a year ago, during a heated City Council election season, Springfield resident Christopher Keenan saw a Facebook post from a mayoral candidate that he couldn’t let slide.

Councilwoman Kristi Fulnecky, who ran for mayor on a public safety platform, had posted on her public Facebook page that the Wall Street Journal listed Springfield as the 11th most dangerous city in America.

Kennan commented on Fulnecky’s page, pointing out the article was actually published by an online blog called 24/7 Wall St.

MORE: Fact check: Is Springfield the 11th most dangerous city in the country?

He wrote: "As one of these is a reputable, well-known news source and the other is an opinion blog, it is very important that this be corrected — sources matter. A simple post to your page apologizing for the inaccurate sourcing would be great!"

The comment got Keenan banned from Fulnecky's Facebook page, he said. For the past year, Keenan has been unable to comment on Fulnecky’s posts or see her responses to comments.

On April 18, Keenan emailed Fulnecky with a request to unblock him so he can interact with her and other social media users on her page.

Fulnecky said she decided to unblock him, though Keenan told the News-Leader Thursday he was still waiting to be granted full access to Fulnecky's page.

Though it appears he may get what he wants, Keenan points to a larger issue — that politicians, who are increasingly turning to social media to get their message out, are able to limit the voices that they hear.

"I think myself and everyone else who has been blocked deserves the right to participate in those (online) discussions," Keenan said.

Keenan believes that he and others have a constitutional right to interact with elected officials through social media accounts when they're being used to conduct government business.

It appears that he's not the only one.

Social media and elected officials

Courts around the country are being asked to clear up disputes about social media and the First Amendment — including at the highest level of elected office.

Twitter users blocked by President Donald Trump have sued, alleging that his actions violated their right to free speech.

Keenan pointed to two cases in particular to bolster his argument.

In July, a federal judge in Virginia issued a declaratory judgment, which found that a Loudoun County resident's right to free speech was violated when he was blocked from a county official's public Facebook page for eight hours. The court found that the plaintiff was not entitled to any damages or other remedy, according to a statement from Loudoun County published on its website.

In August, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan was sued for blocking several people from his official Facebook page after they left critical comments, reported the Washington Post.

In April, a settlement called for, among other things, a $65,000 payment to plaintiffs, the creation of a separate Facebook page for constituents to raise issues and the formation of an appeal process for people who think their comments were deleted improperly, according to the Washington Post.

The Post reported that the settlement is one of the first in the U.S. to require an elected official to establish a new social media policy.

Don't 'delete a post just because you disagree'

Keenan said it would be "wise" for the city of Springfield to also have a policy for how officials should manage social media pages.

City spokeswoman Cora Scott said the city does not oversee the social media accounts of elected officials. Scott said any guidance which might have been provided by the law department to council members about social media would be covered by attorney-client privilege.

Keenan said he wants to see the city implement a social media policy to ensure all officials are abiding by the same rules to safeguard against censorship and to give people a way to appeal when they're blocked or have their comments deleted.

"You shouldn't be able to delete a post just because you disagree with it," Keenan said.

There should be reasonable limits on what people can say, though, he said: "I don't think anyone should have the right to be vulgar or abusive to officials on social media."

MORE: Missourians discuss being blocked on Greitens' social media

Out of the nine members of City Council, Fulnecky is one of the most active on social media. Fulnecky is a general council member, which means she represents all of Springfield, as opposed to a specific zone.

She regularly posts on a Facebook page named "Councilwoman Fulnecky," which has more than 3,400 followers. She shares links to news stories, events and segments of a radio show on which she makes weekly appearances. Many of the posts are related to issues being discussed by city leaders.

In recent months, she's brought up constituent comments on social media during public meetings with other council members. She said many parents reached out to her through Facebook, email and other means with concerns about student-led school walkouts to protest gun violence. In April, constituents weighed in on Facebook about the future of the historic Jefferson Avenue Footbridge.

Leading up to the April 2017 election, Fulnecky's page was used to bolster her campaign for the mayor's seat.

It was around that time when Keenan said he was banned.

Fulnecky said she had campaign staffers managing the Facebook page, then named "Fulnecky for Springfield." She said she doesn't know specifically why Keenan was banned, but explained that staffers only blocked people who "said something graphic or used bad language."

Keenan denied using profanity or saying anything inappropriate. He believes he was banned for pointing out an inaccuracy.

On Feb. 3, Fulnecky posted a screenshot taken of an article from 24/7 Wall St., with a post saying, "The election is in 8 weeks. Time for a change. From the Wall Street Journal; 11th most dangerous city in the US."

Other city leaders, including the police chief, have repeatedly urged people to put little credence in 24/7 Wall Street's rankings.

Several weeks later, on March 20, 2017, Fulnecky published a press release on her Facebook page, calling for some local media outlets to apologize for reporting on tax liens filed against her by the Missouri Department of Revenue. Fulnecky had provided documentation showing that the liens were filed in error.

Keenan said he used it as an opportunity to call Fulnecky out on her previous misattribution.

A screenshot provided to the News-Leader shows that Keenan commented: "As your press release calls for correcting inaccuracies, I'd kindly like to ask the same of you. The post you shared regarding crime statistics in Springfield was inaccurately sourced. You wrote that the information came from the Wall Street Journal — it actually came from 24/7 Wall St...."

Though Fulnecky's post is still available on Facebook, Keenan said his comment was deleted shortly before he was banned from the page.

In Keenan's eyes, it was fine for candidate Fulnecky to block whomever she wanted to. However, when she changed the name of the page to "Councilwoman Fulnecky" after she lost the election, Keenan said she should have unblocked everyone.

"I really view politics as a discussion, a discussion between politicians, a discussion between peers. If they're going to put a stance out there ... (we) need to hold officials accountable for what they post and what they say," Keenan said.

Fulnecky told the News-Leader she still sees "Councilwoman Fulnecky" as a personal campaign page though she also uses it to communicate with constituents.

Fulnecky said former City Attorney Dan Wichmer told her that campaign social media pages are considered personal pages.

"My personal policy is since it's a personal social media account, I let people disagree with my opinions on there, but they can't use offensive language or be belligerent to other people on there," Fulnecky said.

How Springfield City Council uses social media

A few other council members also use social media to communicate with constituents to varying degrees.

Councilwoman Phyllis Ferguson moderates a Facebook group called "Zone 1 — Northwest Springfield, MO," which has more than 1,600 members.

Ferguson said she sees the group as an informative, not political, forum.

"It's not a place to stir up drama," she said. "I just let people know right up front that stuff won't be tolerated."

Guidelines for the group are posted in a sidebar. No political or religious debate. No foul language. No business advertisements. No "bad-mouth(ing)" the north side.

Unlike the Councilwoman Fulnecky page, any member of the Zone 1 group can post new topics for discussion.

Ferguson said she's blocked three people from participating in the group. She said she has a "three strikes rule" when people violate her guidelines.

"Members, overall, are very respectful and use the page as a vehicle for communication and community building," she said.

Councilman Matthew Simpson, who represents Zone 4 in southeast Springfield, posts regularly on Twitter.

Simpson said he believes it should be up to the individual elected official to decide how to use their accounts. For him, it's mostly a personal account.

"I think it's an emerging field as far as how public officials use (social media)," Simpson said. "We need to strike a balance between personal preference on how to use social media and it increasingly becoming a community platform."

Councilman Mike Schilling has a public Facebook page, but posts infrequently and has not blocked anyone. He represents Zone 3, the southwest quadrant of the city.

He said he doesn't have the patience to be constantly monitoring social media: "A lot of people, from what I understand, like to provoke and pick a fight with other people they might not know at all."

Schilling, who uses "an old-fashioned flip phone," said he prefers more direct forms of communication, such as email or phone calls.

"You can get a more realistic and calm conversation with people," Schilling said.