EDITORIAL: If you want to tweet, you can’t delete
A federal court ruling may change how state Sen. Ray Scott goes about interacting with – or avoiding criticism from – his constituents. At least it should.
The ruling emanates from an important question that is becoming more relevant as politicians increasingly turn to social media to promote legislative agendas and seek feedback:
“… when is a social media account maintained by a public official considered ‘governmental’ in nature, and thus subject to constitutional constraints?” the U.S. District Court for the eastern district of Virginia asked in its ruling. “The Court concluded previously that the best way to answer this question is to examine whether the public official acts under color of state law or undertakes state action in maintaining the social media account.”

