The Ninth Circuit will decide whether a San Francisco Bay Area High School violated students’ constitutional rights by suspending them for liking and commenting on a racist Instagram account run by one of their classmates. Four years after an Instagram account comparing Black students to gorillas roiled a San Francisco Bay Area high school, the Ninth Circuit set out to settle the question of whether the First Amendment protects liking and commenting on racist and abusive social media posts. The case arose from an account created in 2016 by an Albany High School student identified as C.E., who gave access to a handful of his friends. His posts targeted 11 female students, most of color, with nooses around their necks and with their pictures featured next to images of apes. Some of the posts featured photos of Black female students taken without their knowledge during class.
via couthousenwes: Racist Instagram account tests limits of protected speech