In the U.S., a "Like" on Facebook is Not Protected by Freedom of Expression

The fact of publishing a "Like" is it a form of expression protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution? No , ruled April 24 a court in Virginia, which ruled on a case of unfair dismissal.

The origin of the complaint, two policemen attached to the Hampton Sheriff's Office. The two men were dismissed after the sheriff's reelection - in Virginia as in most U.S. states, sheriffs are elected every four years. He had argued for fiscal restraint to the fire , but the two complainants believed to have lost their jobs ... because they had supported another candidate for sheriff.

Both men felt that their boss could not find support for his opponent only one way: both had "enjoyed" the rival of the page on Facebook . They had filed a complaint, arguing that their freedom of expression protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution, was violated.

But in its decision, the court found that "simply" to love "a Facebook page is not a form of expression sufficiently important to merit constitutional protection. In other cases where other courts have held that the constitutional protection applies to publications on Facebook, it was of sentences. "More generally, the court held that both plaintiffs had not proved that they were involved in the campaign of their chief rival, or, above all, their leader was able to have knowledge.

The United States , the definition of what constitutes an expression and thus qualifies for constitutional protection is regularly the subject of conflicting decisions. In recent years, several procedures have opposed major high schools and students about T-shirts . In one case famously , a high school student in 2006 had been confirmed on appeal the right to wear T-shirts showing pictures of drugs or alcohol.