By Lawrence Hurley -
NBC News
The Supreme Court ruled this Friday that, in some circumstances, citizens can sue public officials for blocking them on social networks, and also that elected officials can block users, although only under limited circumstances.
The ruling responds to
two cases in Michigan and California
, where users sued public officials who blocked them for criticizing their management.
The case about freedom of expression on social networks has as its background the use of these by Donald Trump, one of the elected officials who blocked users critical of his management, when he was president.
The court ruled unanimously that officials can be considered “agents of the state” when they use social media and therefore can face litigation if they block or silence a user.
In the two cases before the judges, they ruled that litigation involving a Southern California school board member and a Michigan city manager should be returned to court for this new measure to be applied.
In the ruling written by conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the court recognized that “it can be difficult to know whether (an official's) speech is official or private,” due to the way social media accounts are used.