US Supreme Court declares access to SM a First Amendment right

Wired’s Issie Lapowsky reports that ‘The [US] Supreme Court Just Protected Your Right to Facebook‘. The article details a court decision that states: ‘Foreclosing access to social media altogether thus prevents users from engaging in the legitimate exercise of First Amendment rights’ in reference to a registered sex offender’s contention that the US state of North Carolina (USA)’s law that prohibits sex offenders from certain Internet applications and sites, including Facebook, violated his First Amendment rights. The decision implicitly recognises that the Internet is now an important means of communications. The US Constitution’s First Amendment states: ‘Amendment I. Congress shall make no law […]; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press […].’ Explaining the decision, Neil Richards of Washington University Law School (specialist in First Amendment law) noted: ‘We cannot have a functioning First Amendment that doesn’t take First Amendment activity in a digital context into account.’