Whether the First Amendment deprives a government official of his right to control his personal Twitter account by blocking third-party accounts if he uses that personal account in part to announce official actions and policies

QUESTION PRESENTED Twitter, Inc. is a social media company that enables its users to create accounts through which they post “tweets” and interact with each other. Twitter permits users to “block” other individual users’ accounts, and a blocked user account cannot directly see or reply to the blocking user’s tweets. President Donald J. Trump created a Twitter account as a private citizen in 2009. He has continued to use that personal account since assuming the Presidency, including to announce official actions or policies. In 2017, President Trump blocked individual respondents’ Twitter accounts from his personal account after respondents posted messages on their accounts criticizing him or his policies. The court of appeals held that, in doing so, President Trump violated the First Amendment. The question presented is: Whether the First Amendment deprives a government official of his right to control his personal Twitter account by blocking third-party accounts if he uses that personal account in part to announce official actions and policies. (I)