AKRON, Ohio -- An Akron man is suing Akron City Councilman Donnie Kammer in federal court, accusing the Ward 7 councilman of infringing on the man’s rights to free speech and due process by blocking and deleting his comments from Kammer’s official Facebook page.
Brian Holb, a lawyer who lives in Akron’s Firestone Park neighborhood, filed the suit Wednesday, about three months after he left a critical comment on Kammer’s public Facebook page about the councilman’s actions in office.
“He had posted that he was going to have a meeting with the state representative who also covers that district and I just commented that I think he should pay more attention to the murders and robberies and speeding and litter in the neighborhood than being concerned with putting up flags on bridges,” Holb told cleveland.com.
“Not long after I posted that comment, he blocked me and erased my comment,” Holb said.
In 2018, Kammer organized efforts to hang more than 30 American flags on a bridge over Interstate 77, Ohio.com reported.
Holb said he emailed Kammer about being blocked, but was still barred from engaging with the page until he filed the federal lawsuit, after which he was unblocked.
Kammer declined to comment for this story, saying that he has not been officially served with the lawsuit. But he told cleveland.com that no one is currently blocked from his page.
Holb, who is representing himself in the case, claims Kammer’s actions infringed on his right to free speech in a public forum on matters of public concern. The lawsuit further claims Holb’s comments were deleted without due process, since there was no prior notice or opportunity to respond.
“There’s been a lot of these lawsuits across the country where politicians have blocked people just because they don’t like what they have to say,” Holb said. “It’s not because they’re threatening or disrespectful or anything like that.”
One of the first such lawsuits was brought against President Donald Trump when he blocked several critics on Twitter. A district court judge in May sided with seven people blocked by the @realDonaldTrump account, saying that elected officials who block or exclude views they disagree with is “viewpoint discrimination,” and unconstitutional under the First Amendment. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals is considering the Trump administration’s appeal.
In January, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a case involving the chair of Loudoun County, Virginia that the interactive portion of a public official’s Facebook page is a public forum, so a politician cannot block people from it because of the opinions they hold.
Holb said he has commented on Kammer’s page since getting unblocked and his comments have not been deleted. He has also filed a motion for a preliminary injunction, requesting that Kammer restore Holb’s previously-deleted comments.
“I’m frustrated that he’s able to do that and it takes me filing a federal lawsuit to be able to have my voice heard,” he said. “It’s far beyond what should be necessary to be able to engage in these conversations.”
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