Free Speech on Facebook

Charles Blackwell is on a mission to hold public officials accountable. In early 2021 the Inkster Police Department launched an investigation into allegations that the city’s parks and recreation director had embezzled public funds. Mr. Blackwell, who has followed Inkster politics for several years, took to Facebook to express his disappointment in the city’s handling of the investigation. He posted critical comments about the chief of police on the Inkster Police Department’s Facebook page, and exposed the mayor’s delinquent property taxes on the mayor’s official Facebook page. The police and mayor promptly deleted Mr. Blackwell’s critical comments, and blocked him from being able to post, comment, share, or send them direct messages. Mr. Blackwell then filed a federal lawsuit against them to vindicate his First Amendment right to be free from government censorship on city-run Facebook pages. In June 2021 the ACLU of Michigan joined the case to represent Mr. Blackwell, arguing that when the city intentionally created public spaces on their official Facebook pages where any member of the public could engage in dialogue with city officials and with one another, it created public forums for private speech and is therefore prohibited from censoring or deleting Mr. Blackwell’s comments simply because they disagree with his political message. In March 2022 Judge Terrence Berg agreed with our position and denied Inkster’s motion to dismiss. In August 2022 the case settled when the city agreed to adopt a First Amendment-friendly social media policy, regularly train all relevant city employees and council members on the policy, and to pay damages and attorneys’ fees. (Blackwell v. City of Inkster; ACLU Attorneys Bonsitu Kitaba-Gaviglio and Dan Korobkin; Cooperating Attorney Bill Burdett.)