EdLawConnect Blog

With an estimated 3.96 billion social media users worldwide, it is no surprise to learn that most students have at least one social media account.  Whether it is Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, or TikTok, people of all ages, from your 85 year-old grandmother to your 7 year-old nephew, can be found sharing their life somewhere on a social media platform (and possibly, your life too!).  In 2021, it appears acceptable to share all types of information, from the tiniest of details, such as what you ate for lunch or your newest dance moves, to more controversial items, such as political and religious beliefs.  People share the details of their everyday lives with friends, family, and strangers.  For many social media users, their first inclination is to “post” about any experience they have just encountered - the good, the bad, and the ugly, with their closest “friends.”  In a world where posting or snapping about any thought instantaneously occurs, when is sharing an opinion or criticism too much, and who decides when enough is enough?  This is the question the U.S. Supreme Court recently reviewed in Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L. By and Through Levy (2021) _ _ _ U.S. _ _ _ 2021 WL 2557069, when the Court reviewed whether school officials had the right to regulate or punish a student for her off-campus, social media speech.

Where is the boundary between the free speech rights of public employees who express controversial or offensive ideas or opinions, and the authority of public employers to limit employee speech that is claimed to be inconsistent with policies prohibiting harassment or other discrimination on the basis of race, sexual orientation or other protected characteristics? This question can be particularly ...