Florida A&M University welcomed its new president Marva Johnson’s first day Aug. 1 on all its social media pages, but responses were promptly silenced.
Soon after the historically Black university posted a 5-minute video message from the new leader on its Facebook and Instagram pages, comments flooded in, many with scathing remarks from critics.
But those comments were limited or now are gone, wiped from the internet by the school.
To be sure, Johnson has been a lightning rod for criticism, seen by many in the FAMU community as a political ally put in place by Gov. Ron DeSantis as part of his program to take control of and remake the state’s public higher education system under a conservative vision.
The social media moves raise the question: Were the First Amendment rights of commenters violated? Finding an answer could be complicated, however, since public educational institutions are often treated differently than government agencies and officials.
The Tallahassee Democrat, a member of the USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida, previously reported that about 300 comments on the Instagram post vanished, and users as of Aug. 12 still cannot comment on the post. It shows a photo of Johnson, with a caption encouraging users to watch her video message on YouTube, where comments are also turned off.
Responses were also limited on the Facebook video, and the university commented: “Thank you for your feedback. Additional comments can be sent to FAMUFeedback@famu.edu.” Days later, though, users could comment again.
Her presidential Facebook page also turned off comments on a video of her arriving on campus.
The USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida emailed FAMU twice for comment and spoke on the phone with a spokesperson. When the reporter mentioned President Marva Johnson’s video on social media, the spokesperson interrupted and said she had to get off the phone for a meeting, and asked the reporter to email her. The university did not respond to the follow-up email.
To be clear, FAMU is not the only entity to grapple with the thorny issue of limiting comments. Particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, Leon County Schools began to limit comments during livestreamed meetings that became partisan battle grounds over mask mandates. That practice continues today.
A school district spokesperson said administrators don’t delete comments, though they will hide posts that use obscenities or are offensive. They also created a separate page for meetings, which comments have been disabled on from the beginning.
Higher education and the First Amendment
The Supreme Court has held that restricting a constituent’s ability to interact on a forum based on the constituent’s views is unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination and is prohibited, said Haley Gluhanich, senior program counsel for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
When asked whether FIRE knew of other universities with similar situations, Gluhanich said the organization does not track these cases.
“When public universities and their administrators create forums for open discussion, the First Amendment restrains regulation of speech within that forum, including by blocking users and deleting comments,” Gluhanich said.
Because of its relative newness, how social media intertwines with the First Amendment is a work in progress. The First Amendment Coalition said on its website that it doesn’t apply to private people or in a public official’s private capacity, so it matters whether a social media account displays official actions by a public institution or figure.
The attorney and former corporate lobbyist was a former board of education chair under Gov. Rick Scott and a member of DeSantis’ transition team.
Online forums and the First Amendment
Deleting or limiting comments isn’t the only issue in the social media realm of the First Amendment. It also involves being blocked by a public figure.
South Florida provocateur Chaz Stevens sued state Rep. Chip LaMarca, R-Lighthouse Point, in April 2024 for blocking him on the X platform, saying LaMarca was violating his First Amendment rights.
A plaintiff in a similar case from 2021 dropped a lawsuit against then-Rep. Chuck Clemons, R-Gainesville, after Clemons blocked him after asking the lawmaker to explain a 2018 vote.
The Freedom Forum wrote in late June that being blocked on social media “affects your use of the freedoms of speech and petition.”
Yet for the First Amendment to apply, a person must be blocked from an official government account. It’s unclear whether it applies when an account is run by a elected official as opposed to a government agency.
On Aug. 1, the University of Wisconsin-Madison lost in federal appeals court after a former student sued in 2021, accusing the public university of violating First Amendment rights by removing Facebook and Instagram comments that criticized the university’s animal research.
The university restricted her account by preventing any of her comments from appearing publicly. The appellate judges found that the university’s social media accounts were “limited public forums,” meaning that the university could maintain relevant topics in the discussion but couldn’t restrict viewpoints.
(Additional context was added to this story after publication).
This reporting content is supported by a partnership with Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. USA Today Network-Florida First Amendment reporter Stephany Matat is based in Tallahassee, Fla. She can be reached at SMatat@gannett.com. On X: @stephanymatat.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: First Amendment questions after FAMU limits online comments on Marva Johnson
Reporting by Stephany Matat, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
