The Perils of Facebook

May 2nd, 2012 by JBWK

In an interesting decision last week, a federal judge in the Eastern District of Virginia held that a public employee’s “like” of a Facebook page was not First Amendment-protected speech.

The court held the employees’ First Amendment rights were not violated after they were allegedly terminated as a result of their election-related activities in support of a new city sheriff. Part of those actions included “liking” a challenger’s Facebook page.

The court ruled that the “mere ‘liking’ of a Facebook page is insufficient speech to merit constitutional protection.”

The case may go to the Fourth Circuit on appeal.

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