Some shelters have Facebook pages that are “group” pages. You can request to join the page and permission may or may not be given. The moderators of the page can removed posts that are not in line with a set of rules. Often one of the rules is that you cannot post negative comments about staff, volunteers, polices, procedures and so on. These Facebook pages are often limited to volunteers, staff, fosters or other groups. Is limiting and removing posts on these “opt-in” pages legal or is posting here also protected under the law?
I believe that a court would uphold a page limited to, say, volunteers, in order to communicate about volunteer issues as a reasonable "time, place, and manner" restriction. However, it could not restrict comments on those pages by volunteers that are rationally related to volunteering or prohibit a volunteer from joining because they are critical of practices and have asked for changes.
At one point, for example, Austin Animal Center management banned a volunteer who posted what management deemed "negative comments" on their volunteer page, but they were forced to unban them following my intervention on behalf of The No Kill Advocacy Center.
Keep in mind, Bic, you can create your own "group" (to counter) -- as all groups, you set up your own rules -- of course, YOU allow all to join and comment as they wish --
Some shelters have Facebook pages that are “group” pages. You can request to join the page and permission may or may not be given. The moderators of the page can removed posts that are not in line with a set of rules. Often one of the rules is that you cannot post negative comments about staff, volunteers, polices, procedures and so on. These Facebook pages are often limited to volunteers, staff, fosters or other groups. Is limiting and removing posts on these “opt-in” pages legal or is posting here also protected under the law?
I believe that a court would uphold a page limited to, say, volunteers, in order to communicate about volunteer issues as a reasonable "time, place, and manner" restriction. However, it could not restrict comments on those pages by volunteers that are rationally related to volunteering or prohibit a volunteer from joining because they are critical of practices and have asked for changes.
At one point, for example, Austin Animal Center management banned a volunteer who posted what management deemed "negative comments" on their volunteer page, but they were forced to unban them following my intervention on behalf of The No Kill Advocacy Center.
Keep in mind, Bic, you can create your own "group" (to counter) -- as all groups, you set up your own rules -- of course, YOU allow all to join and comment as they wish --
We just talked about this on No Kill in Motion. Part I jsut released, additional segments soon to be published. https://youtu.be/5HdhcbEFFyI
THANK YOU for First Amendment importance.