Maryland To Pay $65K Over Hogan's Deleted Facebook Comments

BALTIMORE, MD — The state of Maryland must pay $65,000 to settle a lawsuit over critics who were block by Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan on his Facebook page, and the governor's office will set up a page for public comment on issues. The action comes after a lawsuit was filed in August 2017 by the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland in federal district court against what it called censorship; a spokeswoman for Hogan said the office had merely blocked coordinated spam attacks on the social media page.

The ACLU claimed 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 Maryland settlement includes a new social media policy that will govern Hogan's Facebook page, mandates the creation of a second Facebook page dedicated to providing a public forum where constituents can raise a host of issues for the governor's attention, and creates an appeals process for constituents who feel their comments have been improperly deleted, or that they have been wrongfully blocked.

"Across the country over the last year, the importance of social media to political discourse by elected officials and their constituents has been recognized with rulings from the Supreme Court and other courts, and we are excited to see Maryland in the forefront of protecting speech rights in this context with this model social media policy," said Deborah Jeon, legal director for the ACLU of Maryland, in a statement.

Shareese Churchill, a spokeswoman for Hogan, told The Washington Post the state is glad to put an end to the “frivolous and politically motivated lawsuit.”

“Ultimately, it was much better for Maryland taxpayers to resolve this, than to continue wasting everyone’s time and resources in court,” she told The Post.

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, said 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 were 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.

"I originally joined the governor's Facebook page so I could learn about his positions about education issues, and when it became clear that the governor's positions differ from my own, I engaged in conversation," said Janice Lepore, one of four plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said via the ACLU. "It never occurred to me that the governor, or his staff, would seek to prohibit me from engaging in conversations in a public forum, simply because my opinions differ from their positions. Nor did it ever occur to me that when these prohibitions became public, the governor and his staff would malign those of us who had been silenced. I hope this settlement will promote greater access and engagement for all Maryland citizens."

Mayer told The Washington Post last year that the governor's office had blocked 450 people since Hogan took office. 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.

Photo of Gov. Larry Hogan courtesy of Maryland governor's office