Mandelblit says elected officials cannot block citizens on social media
Opinion submitted by outgoing AG states that principles of freedom of expression apply when an elected official uses a private profile in the context of his public office
Outgoing Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit said on Wednesday that elected officials are not allowed to block citizens on social media, regardless if their accounts are private or state-operated.
In the unprecedented opinion filed at the Local Affairs Court in Tel Aviv, Mandelblit said that when an elected official uses his private profile in the context of his public office, the principles of freedom of expression apply to it.
Until now, it has been determined that freedom of expression applies only to official accounts of state authorities or elected officials.
Mandelblit’s opinion was given as part of a petition filed by social activist Almog Rubinstein against Givatayim Mayor Ran Kunik, after the latter blocked him on Twitter due to criticism over public transportation in the Tel Aviv suburb.
In a response to a Tweet by Kunik, Rubinstein claimed that a person walking on the sidewalk was killed in a car crash due to the city’s poor handling of space and safety for pedestrians.
“In recent years, elected officials’ accounts have become the main tool for communication between them and the general public: this connection has new characteristics for the realization of principles underlying any democratic regime, in that it has the potential to promote a direct, immediate and interactive connection between the voter and his representative, on a variety of issues, which the public figure can and should promote and treat if needed,” the opinion read.
“Blocking a person from accessing these publications, as well as the discourse conducted about them, undoubtedly affects his ability to be exposed to political expressions and may even infringe on his right to political involvement in general, and in particular the connection with his elected official.”
Therefore, he explained, any action taken on private accounts by elected officials to exercise their public role, including deleting comments and blocking users, is “an action that is also subject to the principles of public law.”
Thus, Mandelblit held that a private profile of an elected official would be subject to the rules of freedom of expression if he used it for public purposes.
