As I was scrolling through Room for Debate, I was not surprised to find that several of the discussions include Trump. Since the latest election, there has been lots of chaos on social media, specifically twitter, involving our current President, Donald J. Trump. Trump has apparently spoken to Americans on Twitter more than anywhere else and has bitterly attacked users. Since a common recommendation for avoiding inappropriate or offensive people on social media is to block them, people are questioning if our President should be able to.
Elizabeth E. Joh, a professor at the University of California, Davis, School of Law states, “In a modern democratic society keeping the social media account of a president open to all ought to be a matter of custom.” She also brings up how blocking individual reporters would be another restriction from the president to press access. Overall, Joh believes that Twitter should be a “shared reality” with press freedom and good governance.
On the other hand, Danielle Keats Citron, a professor of law at the University of Maryland, thinks that the president should be able to talk to and block whoever he wants to just like anyone else. She argues that “The president can decide if he wants to hear out the public in person, on the phone or online.” Citron supposes that the president should not have any different boundaries from anyone else since he also gets attacked at times.
However, I strongly agree much more with Joh’s points because being the President does differentiate you from anyone else; therefore, you are highly looked upon and should not be allowed to block your people from seeing/hearing what you say or decide. In a way, this displays immaturity and lacks professionalism coming from one of our biggest leaders. What do you think?
Jennifer Rubio
https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2016/11/21/should-the-president-be-able-to-block-you-on-twitter?referer=https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate&nytmobile=0
I believe that nobody should be blocked from the president's account. If it was really that important to block someone, he should make two separate accounts. He would have the right to block people on his personal account but not have the right to block people on his presidential account. I believe that this blocking people from the president's accounts is symbolic of a greater cause and contradiction. Decisions in this country are supposed to be decided on by the people, and every citizen is supposed to have a voice in the future of our country; however, the government attempts to hide their corruption and tends to make decisions that most people do not agree with. The government is cruel and ruthless to the people, but it should really be working with the people than against us. I do not believe that a presidential title gives Trump the right to block people from information that is being posted on his account about his opinion and decisions.
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