Considering Twitter as a Place

Last year a court determined that Donald Trump, due to his position as an active government official, is unable to block specific users on Twitter. In its report on the case (which you can read here), NPR states that a court of appeals ruled that Trump was unable to prevent users from interacting with him because by doing so he was "barring them from participating in what judges deemed a public forum." While I enjoy how the current verdict of this case forces government officials to hear their constituents' voices, I am also perturbed by one obvious flaw in the ruling, a flaw which both the plaintiff and defendant of the case appear to have overlooked, that Twitter clearly isn't a public forum.

Ultimately, it appears that the initial plaintiff and the appeals court considered Twitter to be the equivalent of a public space that all citizens have access to when they made their decision, that all public officials who mention politics on Twitter, including Trump, cannot prevent other users from interacting with them. Aspects of this decision are rational and could probably help protect the average person's freedom of speech; public officials cannot be interrupted or physically harmed on the site so any negative consequences brought about by the decision would be minor. Still, Twitter is not a public forum because it is not owned by the general public or the government itself; it is owned by private individuals who are solely responsible for regulating and policing their property. Although Twitter claims to "serve the public conversation" on its rules page (which you can access here), the rules it establishes and follows can be used to curtail constitutionally protected speech. The individuals in charge of Twitter are not objective, impartial, or unbiased; they run advertisements on Twitter, they want to make a profit, and they're willing to expunge unpleasant and minority opinions when they could damage their bottom line. Public forums are not privately owned, privately policed, or places from which protected speech can be erased and law-abiding citizens can be banned. Twitter clearly isn't a public forum.