Access to Government Officials in the Age of Social Media
As social media platforms have become more pervasive, there has been a concomitant increase in the number of government officials using their personal social media accounts to perform official government duties. Most notably, President Donald Trump continues to use his personal Twitter account, est...
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Brechner Center for Freedom of Information, University of Florida
2019-09-01
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Series: | The Journal of Civic Information |
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doaj-04fc700be0444271be8d5dfc130f0ce92020-11-25T03:45:07ZengBrechner Center for Freedom of Information, University of FloridaThe Journal of Civic Information2641-970X2019-09-011110.32473/joci.v1i1.115658Access to Government Officials in the Age of Social MediaKatie Blevins0Kearston L. Wesner1University of IdahoQuinnipiac University As social media platforms have become more pervasive, there has been a concomitant increase in the number of government officials using their personal social media accounts to perform official government duties. Most notably, President Donald Trump continues to use his personal Twitter account, established in 2009, prior to his presidency, to conduct a variety of official tasks. While the First Amendment’s Free Speech Clause traditionally protects an individual’s right to engage in self-expression, the Supreme Court has not unequivocally recognized an affirmative right to know as an extension of the First Amendment. Recent court decisions suggest this may change. This study addresses the contours of public access to government officials on social media. Specifically, it considers the circumstances in which government officials are likely to be held to a standard of accountability and the case for treating public officials’ social media accounts as public forums, including how factors relating to account ownership and content impact that analysis. https://journals.flvc.org/civic/article/view/115658 |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Katie Blevins Kearston L. Wesner |
spellingShingle |
Katie Blevins Kearston L. Wesner Access to Government Officials in the Age of Social Media The Journal of Civic Information |
author_facet |
Katie Blevins Kearston L. Wesner |
author_sort |
Katie Blevins |
title |
Access to Government Officials in the Age of Social Media |
title_short |
Access to Government Officials in the Age of Social Media |
title_full |
Access to Government Officials in the Age of Social Media |
title_fullStr |
Access to Government Officials in the Age of Social Media |
title_full_unstemmed |
Access to Government Officials in the Age of Social Media |
title_sort |
access to government officials in the age of social media |
publisher |
Brechner Center for Freedom of Information, University of Florida |
series |
The Journal of Civic Information |
issn |
2641-970X |
publishDate |
2019-09-01 |
description |
As social media platforms have become more pervasive, there has been a concomitant increase in the number of government officials using their personal social media accounts to perform official government duties. Most notably, President Donald Trump continues to use his personal Twitter account, established in 2009, prior to his presidency, to conduct a variety of official tasks. While the First Amendment’s Free Speech Clause traditionally protects an individual’s right to engage in self-expression, the Supreme Court has not unequivocally recognized an affirmative right to know as an extension of the First Amendment. Recent court decisions suggest this may change. This study addresses the contours of public access to government officials on social media. Specifically, it considers the circumstances in which government officials are likely to be held to a standard of accountability and the case for treating public officials’ social media accounts as public forums, including how factors relating to account ownership and content impact that analysis.
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url |
https://journals.flvc.org/civic/article/view/115658 |
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