Camden, Waldoboro women settle freedom of speech dispute over Maine Governor’s Facebook page
The American Civil Liberties Union of Maine said Dec. 10 that administrators of the official "Paul LePage, Maine's Governor" Facebook page have agreed to unblock two women who were banned from the page and to stop blocking people based on their viewpoint for the remainder of Gov. LePage's time in office, in response to a civil complaint brought by the ACLU of Maine.
That announcement was made by the ACLU in a news release. The court had noted the Dec. 7 settlement, which outlined terms that included unblocking the plaintiffs from the page, ceasing deletion of comments related to viewpoints, and setting a seven-day deadline for unblocking others. (See attached PDF for full settlement)
In August 2017, the ACLU of Maine had filed on behalf of Karin Leuthy, of Camden, and Kelli Whitlock Burton, of Waldoboro, in U.S. First District Court a complaint against Gov. Paul LePage, citing Freedom of Speech and Right to Petition, under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.
The two plaintiffs, as represented by ACLU of Maine Attorney Emma Bond, said they had been blocked by the "Paul LePage, Maine's Governor" Facebook page. Their comments had been deleted from the page, as well.
According to the complaint, On July 6, 2017, Leuthy made two statements to Governor LePage through “Paul LePage, Maine’s Governor:” One comment quoted the Governor about intentionally misleading the press. The second questioned why the Governor was not responding to reporters, accompanied by a link to a Bangor Daily News article.
Approximately one hour after Leuthy’s second comment, a supporter of Governor LePage responded to the comment. Leuthy prepared a response to this response, but before she could post it, she was banned from the site, according to the complaint.
Whitlock Burton posted two comments on “Paul LePage, Maine’s Governor” on July 6, 2017, and she took screenshots of both comments, in anticipation of their possible deletion.
Her first comment on “Paul LePage, Maine’s Governor” was a response to Governor LePage’s July 4, 2017 “Happy Independence Day!” post. Whitlock Burton’s post criticized the Governor’s practice of deleting constituents’ comments.
According to the complaint, she realized within hours of posting the two comments on July 6, 2017 that her comments had been deleted, and that she had been banned from further posting, liking, or replying to any content on the Governor’s page.
They both, through the lawsuit, and as represented by ACLU attorneys Zachary Heiden, Meagan Sway, Emma Bond, said the viewpoint-based censorship was unconstitutional and asked the court to direct Gov. LePage in ceasing, “his unlawful practice of censoring Plaintiffs’ comments on his Facebook page; restore the posting privileges of each Plaintiff named in this complaint; and restore the posting privileges of all of those who have been unlawfully blocked on the basis of viewpoint from commenting.”
Gov. LePage’s attorney in this case, Patrick Strawbridge, who is with the Boston firm Consovoy McCarthy Park, responded in September 2018 that LePage’s Facebook page, as referenced by the ACLU, “is not an official governmental page, is not operated by any governmental officials, and neither the Governor nor any state employee has administrative privileges for the page (which are necessary to block or ban any Facebook profile from commenting).”
Throughout the response to the initial complaint, LePage’s attorney maintained: “The Defendant further states that the policy on its face does not apply to the Facebook page referenced in the Complaint, which is not an official governmental page, is not operated by any governmental officials, and neither the Governor nor any state employee has administrative privileges for the page.”
While LePage admitted that “Paul LePage, Maine’s Governor” is verified on Facebook as a public figure’s authentic page and currently has 39,773 users who ‘like’ his page, his attorney maintained that the Governor: “lacks sufficient information to admit or deny the number of users who ‘currently’ like the referenced page. Defendant further states that the page was created by his political supporters before he became Governor, that it is operated to this day by his political supporters, that it is not an official governmental page, is not operated by any governmental officials, and neither the Governor nor any state employee has administrative privileges for the page.”
But the ACLU maintained that the Facebook page: “Is a significant source of information and news for the people of Maine, as well as a popular forum for speech by, to, and about the Governor. By blocking access to this forum and deleting comments based on the viewpoint of the speaker, Governor LePage has violated plaintiffs’ right to free expression and to petition the government for a redress of wrongs and grievances.”
The ACLU further said that the page is bound by a policy established by Maine’s Office of Information Technology on the use of social media for state business, which anticipates comments and contributions from constituents that may be critical of governmental officials and their policies.
The policy was approved and is enforced by the Governor’s office, the ACLU said, in the complaint.
Leuthy and Whitlock Burton are co-leaders of Suit-Up Maine, a group of Maine citizens who seek to create and foster a more informed and engaged electorate, according to their website.
They said on Dec. 10 in an statement: “We became the latest of many constituents to be blocked and have our comments deleted by the Paul LePage, Maine’s Governor Facebook page. Because Gov. LePage and his staff made it clear through their actions and statements that the page served the Governor in his official capacity, we believed that this constituted viewpoint discrimination and government censorship in violation of the U.S. and Maine constitutions. With the help of the ACLU of Maine, we filed suit against Governor LePage, seeking to have our commenting privileges restored, as well as cessation of any further censorship of our comments on the Governor’s page that did not violate the state’s guidelines about permissible speech on social media.
“This is about a lot more than disagreeing with Gov. LePage on Facebook. It is about a frightening trend among Republican politicians nationwide who are actively undermining the will of a majority of Americans with whom they happen to disagree, from ballot measures to election results. In the case of Gov. LePage, he sought to limit his constituents’ speech on social media, simply because they criticized his positions on issues.”
ACLU Attorney Bond said: "This settlement is another step toward protecting free speech in the digital age. Now, the administrators of the official 'Paul Lepage, Maine's Governor' Facebook page will stop blocking our clients and others based on their viewpoints. We hope every politician in Maine will recognize the importance of free and open dialogue on the internet and do the same."
Individuals who believe they were blocked by the "Paul LePage, Maine's Governor" page based on their viewpoint should email their Facebook username to facebookcase@aclumaine.org.
Reach Editorial Director Lynda Clancy at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 207-706-6657
