The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals heard arguments on whether a Facebook “like” should enjoy protection as free speech under the First Amendment. An employee of the Hampton, Virginia sheriff’s department was fired after clicking the “like” button on the sheriff’s political opponent’s Facebook page. (Bloomberg News, May 16, 2013, by Tom Schoenberg)
A federal district court earlier ruled that “like” was not sufficient speech to qualify for protection. Paul Davis of the Rutgers Computer and Technology Law Journal, April 7, 2013, said that the courts have long protected symbolic speech. “…while a person may not have actually written the statement, by ‘liking’ it they have made an expression of support for the statement. This is akin to signing a petition. While a petition signer may not be responsible for drafting the substance of it, by signing it they are making a statement of support endorsing what the petition is trying to accomplish. Surely this example is a type of speech that would be considered sufficient to merit constitutional protection,” wrote Davis.
Controversies over the use of social media in the workplace have proliferated, according to a report by Justin Jouvenal, The Washington Post, August 8, 2012) “In April, the Marine Corps said it would discharge a sergeant who criticized President Obama on his Facebook page — including allegedly putting the president’s face on a poster for the movie ‘Jackass.’ And last fall, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that a New York nonprofit illegally fired five workers who criticized a colleague on the site,” wrote Jouvenal.