Facebook and the First Amendment: Supreme Court to Consider Online Threats

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case centered on threats made through social media, a topic that has major ramifications for free speech and the Internet.

The case at hand centers around Anthony Elonis, who was sentenced to 44 months in prison and three years of supervision in October 2011 after a jury found that his Facebook posts constituted threats not protected by the First Amendment. Elonis claimed his posts were therapeutic and not meant as threats, and therefore protected under freedom of speech.

The important question in the case is whether a threat becomes a crime if a "reasonable person" considers it a threat, or if it needs "subjective intent" (if what was posted was intended as a threat). Read more...