果冻传媒app官方

Utah State University: FIREBlocked By Official University Social Media Accounts

Cases

Utah State University

Search all Cases

Case Overview

FIRE Victory closed

On Dec. 9, 2020, USU student Zachary Grant Bess chided his public university on Twitter, ending his tweet with 鈥測ou bastards.鈥 Staff blocked (and later unblocked) Bess from accessing USU鈥檚 official Twitter account. FIREwrote USU on Jan. 28, 2021, urging it to rescind a social media policy allowing the university to delete comments or block users for 鈥減rofanity, obscenity, personal attacks, electronic harassment, or privacy violations.鈥 FIREreminded USU that the First Amendment protects students鈥 speech online, and that access to official accounts is important to facilitating students鈥 awareness about campus events. On October 15, USU鈥檚 Board of Trustees approved a new social media policy, which limits the university鈥檚 ability to block accounts to 鈥渟pam, solicitations, commercial content鈥 or 鈥渦nprotected or off-topic content,鈥 allows individuals to appeal when blocked, and automatically unblocks accounts after a uniform time.

Share