Gov. Hogan's Deleted Facebook Comments Prompt ACLU Lawsuit

BALTIMORE, MD — Whether Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has the legal right to block comments on his Facebook page, and delete posts by detractors, is the subject of a lawsuit filed Tuesday by the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland in federal district court. A spokeswoman for the governor said the office will continue to block coordinated spam attacks on the social media page, and chalked the lawsuit up to partisan politics.

The ACLU claims that Hogan has a policy of "censoring constituents' speech on his official Facebook page by blocking those who disagree with him and deleting their comments," according to a statement. Blocking people or deleting comments on social media has become an issue across the country, including a lawsuit against President Donald Trump for blocking critics from his Twitter feed.

The lawsuit seeks a permanent injunction against the Governor's unconstitutional social media policy as enforced by the governor and his staff.

Amelia Chasse, deputy director of communications for the governor, said in an emailed statement to WTOP:

“This frivolous lawsuit is completely without merit, a waste of taxpayer dollars, and has more to do with partisan politics than anything else. The governor’s office has a very clear social media policy, and we will continue to remove all hateful and violent content and coordinated spam attacks to foster an open and constructive dialogue. “Ultimately, with all of the challenges we face in this country and across the globe, we can all agree that the ACLU should be focusing on more important issues than monitoring Facebook pages.”

"The highest purpose of the First Amendment is to protect the right of Americans to engage in political speech and to petition the government to address their concerns," said Deborah Jeon, legal director for the ACLU of Maryland, in a news release. "As the Supreme Court ruled in June, and a federal judge in Virginia echoed just last week, social media has become a vital means for constituents to communicate with their elected officials. It violates both the First Amendment and Maryland's own social media guidelines for government officials to block out any voices of dissent or those simply raising questions about positions taken by public officials sworn to serve."

Hogan and his staff routinely post photos, videos, announcements and information about events and polices on the governor's Facebook page. Douglas Mayer, the governor's director of communications and a defendant in this case, says that Governor Hogan views social media, especially Facebook, as a way to talk directly to the people of this state without the interference of traditional media, and that the governor "believes that it's important to have that kind of direct contact and access with people who vote and pay taxes and live in this state."

The four plaintiffs represented in the ACLU's lawsuit have all been blocked on the governor's Facebook page. Their comments reportedly ranged from trying to draw attention to the Syrian refugee crisis to asking Hogan to take a public position on the Trump administration's Muslim ban, to federal education policy.

Mayer told The Washington Post earlier this year that the governor’s office had blocked 450 people since Hogan took office two years ago. He estimated roughly half of the commenters were blocked for using hateful or racist language, while the remainder were blocked after the 2014 Baltimore riot or in the aftermath of Trump’s travel ban. Hogan's office thought the postings were part of a coordinated attack, Mayer said.

One of the plaintiffs, Meredith Phillips, described herself a Democrat who voted for Hogan three years ago, and posted a comment on his Facebook page about the Muslim ban, asking him to make a public statement. Her comment was deleted and she was blocked from the page, Phillips claims.

"From the moment it happened, I couldn't believe Governor Hogan would block people who disagreed with him, but who weren't rude or threatening. Deleting any comment from constituents that doesn't praise or agree with Governor Hogan is a violation of free speech," she said via the ACLU.
Photo of Gov. Larry Hogan courtesy of Maryland governor's office