A recent Superior Court decision protecting freedom of speech online will have interesting implications for current lawmakers who have been known to block constituents on their social media accounts.
Anchorage Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews ruled that legislators can not block members of the public who they disagree with from commenting on social media accounts associated with their elected office. The ruling came in a case filed against outgoing Eagle River Sen. Lora Reinbold, who blocked a constituent from her Facebook page connected with her elected position. Some facts in the case around why specifically Reinbold blocked her constituent are still being litigated.
Another Eagle River politician, outgoing Anchorage Assembly member Jamie Allard, has a social media history that has often been embroiled in controversy. In 2021, Allard began blocking constituents en masse from her Assembly Facebook page, before deleting the whole thing and falsely claiming that Facebook had censored her.
Allard has maintained her personal Facebook page, which she uses for Assembly business, often bashing people and policy, and from which she liberally blocks constituents from commenting. She was recently elected to the state House.
When she joins the legislature in January, Allard will contend with more stringent rules around social media, in addition to the court ruling. After three lawmakers were sued for blocking comments on social media, the legislature adopted a new policy stating it will not pay legal fees for legislators who are sued for blocking members of the public or deleting comments.
The policy states that any account which discusses a lawmaker’s legislative actions should not allow comments and interactions with the public. If the lawmaker decides to allow interactions with the public, they cannot edit comments.
Allard has a lengthy history of lashing out at members of the public who disagree with her. Now, it won’t just be people in Anchorage – the whole state will be chiming in.
