ACLU Questions Hogan's Facebook Blocking Practices

Plenty of Facebook page administrators delete comments and ban users. But is it constitutional when Gov. Larry Hogan's staff do it to users challenging him on policy positions?

The American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland on Friday contacted the governor on behalf of seven constituents, all of whom have been blocked from the governor's page, asking for that apparent practice to cease and a review of all the other users blocked from his Facebook page during his time in office.

“Governor Hogan needs to understand there's a big difference between a private citizen ‘unfriending’ people on Facebook and a public official blocking the posts of constituents who disagree with his position on issues that affect them,” Deborah Jeon, Legal Director for the ACLU of Maryland, said in a statement. “Social media has become a key way that constituents communicate with their elected leaders, and it violates both the First Amendment and Maryland's own social media policy for government officials to block out any voices of dissent or those simply raising questions about positions taken by public officials sworn to serve.”

The seven women, ACLU officials say, don't know each other and don't coordinate their activities among themselves or with any group. They all hail from different parts of the state.

Hogan spokeswoman Amelia Chasse said in an email Friday evening that the governor's staff has unblocked six of seven named in the letter from the ACLU, and were unable to find the Facebook profile for the seventh. However, she said the ACLU should be focusing on more important issues.

"While the ACLU should be focusing on much more important activities than monitoring the governor's Facebook page, we appreciate them identifying a handful of individuals - out of the over 1 million weekly viewers of the page - that may have been inadvertently denied access. We have already reinstated these individuals, however we will be monitoring them closely for any profane, violent, racist, or inappropriate posts - including political spamming attacks," Chasse said, adding that they "encourage robust, on-topic discussion."

Chasse didn't comment on the broader review activists requested.

The Washington Post reported earlier this month that 450 people had been blocked from the site for what spokesman Doug Mayer attributed largely to an organized campaign. A number of blocks coincided, reportedly, with criticism of President Donald Trump's travel ban and urging of Hogan to take a stance against it. Hogan, for his part, has demurred, saying that's the job of Maryland's congressional delegation and the courts, not elected officials in Annapolis.

“I’ve been living in Maryland for 16 years and have never been politically active, but the situation since the election has made me realize that it is important for all of us to speak up,” Sandra Clark of Germantown, one of the Facebook users whose commenting ability on Hogan's page has since been restored, said in an ACLU statement. “I’ve been disappointed in Governor Hogan’s reluctance to speak up and I hope that he starts working with all Marylanders and not just the ones who voted for him. It felt demoralizing and as if I was being told to shut up and that my thoughts and concerns weren’t valid when my Facebook comments were deleted and I was blocked from the governor’s page. That’s not what I understand our constitution and our government to be about.”