“When a Facebook User Likes a Page on Facebook, she engages in speech protected by the First Amendment.”1 That’s what Facebook has to say about the “like” option which is the only source of expressing your agreement with the comment, photo or a link posted, other than commenting separately altogether. Whether it’s ‘communicative imagery’ or ‘core speech’ or both? Can clicking ‘like’ result in losing your job? Well, that’s what makes things interesting.
In this case2, Plaintiff Daniel Ray Carter, Jr. alleges that Defendant B.J. Roberts, the elected Sheriff of Hampton, Virginia, fired him from his position as deputy sheriff because he Liked the Facebook campaign Page of Roberts’s challenger, Mr. Jim Adams, in the 2009 election, and that his firing violated his rights under the First Amendment. So, does clicking ‘like’ actually amount to saying something in affirmative as amount to speech under the constitutional protection?
“When a Facebook User Likes a Page on Facebook, she engages in speech protected by the First Amendment.”1 That’s what Facebook has to say about the “like” option which is the only source of expressing your agreement with the comment, photo or a link posted, other than commenting separately altogether. Whether it’s ‘communicative imagery’ or ‘core speech’ or both? Can clicking ‘like’ result in losing your job? Well, that’s what makes things interesting.