Lindke v. Freed USSC

This episode discusses an opinion from the Supreme Court case of Lindke v. Freed, which addresses when a public official's social media activity constitutes state action under 42 U. S. C. §1983. The case arose after a city manager, James Freed, blocked a user, Kevin Lindke, from commenting on his public Facebook page after Lindke posted critical remarks about the city's pandemic response. The Court established a two-prong test: state action occurs only if the official possessed actual authority to speak on the state's behalf on a specific matter and purported to exercise that authority in the relevant posts. The opinion highlights that the appearance and content of the social media account are important for the second prong but cannot substitute for the lack of authority in the first prong, emphasizing the need to distinguish between an official's private life and their official duties.