A federal appeals
court ruled Wednesday that ‘liking’ something on Facebook is a form of
protected free speech in a closely watched Virginia case that
tested the limits of the First Amendment in the digital age.
The Fourth Circuit
Court of Appeals in Richmond rejected a lower court’s opinion that clicking the
ubiquitous “thumbs up” icon was not “actual speech,” an opinion that would have
had wide-ranging implications for millions of Facebook users and other new
forms of expression on the web if it had stood.
“[Liking] is the
Internet equivalent of displaying a political sign in one’s front yard, which
the Supreme Court has held is substantive speech,” the three judge panel wrote
in their 81-page opinion.
The ruling grew out
of a lawsuit brought by Hampton sheriff’s deputies, one of whom claimed he was
fired for liking the campaign page of his boss’s opponent. Daniel Ray Carter,
Jr. said the dismissal violated his First Amendment rights in the 2011 suit.
But U.S. District
Court Judge Raymond A. Jackson issued a summary judgement against Carter in
January 2012, saying ‘liking’ didn’t rise to the level of protected speech.
Jackson said Carter needed to have made actual statements to make such a claim.
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