The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University say that part of their mission is to defend “the freedoms of speech and the press in the digital age through strategic litigation, research, and public education.”
Ocasio-Cortez has about 5.3 million followers on her @AOC Twitter account while her official congressional account, @RepAOC, has 188,000 followers.
“1. I have 5.2 million followers. Less than 20 accounts are blocked for ongoing harassment,“ she wrote. ”0 are my constituents. 2. Harassment is not a viewpoint. Some accounts, like the Daily Caller, posted fake nude photos of me & abused my comments to spread it. No one is entitled to abuse.”
Yesterday when Laura Ingraham of Fox News questioned Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter about the “less than 20” twitter accounts being blocked, Ocasio-Cortez, making another reference to The Knight First Amendment Institute’s letter, responded, “See? You’re a neo-Nazi fan favorite and I don’t block you for defending white supremacist viewpoints and mocking gun violence survivors.”
The First Amendment group did say that it is constitutional to block users when “speech is threatening.” There have been officials, however, that said they did not threaten the congresswoman but were blocked anyway.
Ocasio-Cortez was also sued by New York Republican congressional hopeful Joseph Saladino after he was blocked by her.
In response to the lawsuit Ocasio-Cortez attorney Allyson Belovin said that the suit should be voided because Ocasio-Cortez only blocked users on her personal twitter account, not her official account.
The Knight First Amendment Institute does not think Belovin’s argument that Ocasio-Cortez’s Twitter account is personal holds up legally.
“In pending litigation, your attorneys have argued that the @AOC account is not subject to the First Amendment because it is a personal account. As we have explained above, that characterization is incorrect. Further, while we understand that you have another account that is nominally your “official” one, the fact remains that you use the @AOC account as an extension of your office.”