by Jessica Ertel, Associate Staff<\/p>\n
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How many times have you subconsciously clicked the thumbs up button on Facebook?\u00a0 Every time you log onto Facebook, it is inevitable that something amusing, smart, or relatable will pop up on your news feed which will warrant the social sign of approval, the \u201clike.\u201d\u00a0 Facebook processes approximately 2.7 billion of these \u201clikes\u201d every day.[1]<\/a> While Facebook liking simply seems to be yet another form of social interaction, it actually has greater consequences than one might realize.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Recently, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that \u201cliking\u201d on Facebook constituted protected free speech.[2]<\/a>\u00a0 When a former deputy sheriff in Hampton, Virginia, pressed the thumbs up button for his boss\u2019s opposing candidate in the Sheriff election, he suffered an adverse employment action.\u00a0 By simply liking a Sheriff candidate\u2019s Facebook page, Daniel Ray Carter was expressing his political opinions, expressions that deserve the highest Constitutional protection.\u00a0 However, the Court noted that this First Amendment level of protection fluctuates depending on whether an individual who has a policymaking role is expressing opinions that intersect with or undermine that public role.\u00a0 Since a certain political affiliation was not an appropriate requirement for Carter\u2019s job, his political expression on Facebook was given significant protection.\u00a0 It was improper for Carter to be fired for showing political support for a Sheriff candidate.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Undoubtedly, every U.S. citizen has the right to freedom of speech. \u00a0Yet, it makes sense that an employer can take their employee\u2019s political beliefs into account when that employee\u2019s job necessarily entails policymaking.\u00a0 An employer will probably not want to hire someone whose Facebook page is stamped with Hitler support groups or racist slurs.\u00a0 Thus, there is a caveat to the ruling that Facebook \u201cliking\u201d is protected free speech.\u00a0 While such speech is one\u2019s Constitutional right, that expression is inevitably made public and thus available to whoever happens upon your Facebook page.<\/p>\n The same is true for one\u2019s Twitter account.\u00a0 Even though there is an option to make one\u2019s Twitter profile private, this social media site provides in its Privacy Policy that any information that a user posts is considered publicly available information.[3]<\/a> \u00a0In a New York case, the Court ruled that the defendant\u2019s Twitter account could be subpoenaed after he participated in an Occupy Wall Street march on the Brooklyn Bridge.[4]<\/a>\u00a0 Presumably, the defendant\u2019s political expressions on Twitter would be used against him to prove that he participated in this protest in which he was arrested for disorderly conduct.\u00a0<\/p>\n Since Facebook liking now qualifies as protected First Amendment speech, it seems that tweeting should qualify as well.\u00a0 And, although these social media expressions are guaranteed Constitutional protection, that does not diminish the fact that these expressions are made public.\u00a0 An employer cannot fire someone for their political expressions on Facebook or Twitter, but there is still the reminder that those opinions and views are out there for the world to see.<\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Ashlee Vance, Facebook: The Making of 1 Billion Users<\/i>, Bus. Wk., Oct. 4, 2012, at 2, available at<\/i> http:\/\/www.businessweek.com\/articles\/2012-10-04\/facebook-the-making-of-1-billion-users#p2<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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