Judge: Facebook "Likes" Are Free Speech For Government Employees

Judge: Facebook "Likes" Are Free Speech For Government Employees

A federal appeals judge in Virginia has ruled that "liking" a Facebook post is constitutionally protected free speech and public agencies cannot fire you for "liking" posts that anger government employers.

The case revolves around six employees who were fired by Hampton Sheriff B.J. Roberts after they supported his re-election opponent in 2009. One of those workers, Daniel Ray Carter, had "liked" the Facebook page of Roberts' opponent. Facebook said clicking 'Like' was the 21st century-equivalent of a campaign yard sign. "If Carter had stood on a street corner and announced, 'I like Jim Adams for Hampton sheriff,' there would be no dispute that his statement was constitutionally protected speech," the company wrote in a friend of the court brief filed with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. "Carter made that very statement; the fact that he did it online, with a click of a computer's mouse, does not deprive Carter's speech of constitutional protection."

A lower court had previously ruled against the employees. Facebook and the ACLU are now calling for that decision to be vacated. The ruling does not apply to employees of private businesses.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2012-08-08/facebook-like-free-speech/56875940/1