• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • HOME
  • NEWS+OPINIONS
    • NEWS TO US
    • COLUMNS
      • APPARENT HORIZON
      • DEAR READER
      • Close
    • LONGFORM FEATURES
    • OPINIONS
    • EDITORIAL
    • Close
  • ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT
    • FILM
    • MUSIC
    • COMEDY
    • PERFORMING ARTS
    • VISUAL ARTS
    • Close
  • DINING+DRINKING
    • EATS
    • SIPS
    • BOSTON BETTER BEER BUREAU
    • Close
  • LIFESTYLE
    • CANNABIS
      • TALKING JOINTS MEMO
      • Close
    • WELLNESS
    • GTFO
    • Close
  • STUFF TO DO
  • TICKETS
  • ABOUT US
    • ABOUT
    • MASTHEAD
    • ADVERTISE
    • Close
  • BECOME A MEMBER

Dig Bos

The Dig - Greater Boston's Alternative News Source

AG’S OFFICE BLOCKS ACCOUNTS ON SOCIAL MEDIA, SHIELDS BAD ACTORS

Written by MAYA SHAFFER Posted February 26, 2020 Filed Under: News, NEWS+OPINIONS

 

Last winter, Crit News was blocked by the Chicopee Police Department social media pages after we published articles critical of the department’s affiliation with anti-LGBTQ brand Chick-fil-A and its likely unconstitutional social media policy.

 

Prior court rulings strongly suggest that these blocks violate the First Amendment, so we filed a complaint with Mass Attorney General Maura Healey’s civil rights division. In the time since, we have become dismayed by the AG’s office’s failure to address the blocks. But now records we have received from Healey’s shed light on why her office may be avoiding the issue—her office is also guilty of the same kind of questionable social media management.

 

After the CPD blocked both the Crit News Twitter account and this reporter’s personal Facebook account from its official social media pages, we looked for ways to get the issue resolved. The ACLU of Massachusetts suggests filing a complaint to the AGO’s civil rights division, so we did. We thought our complaint would be the easiest case they ever saw, since the blocking was not disputed; rather, CPD’s problematic public information officer acknowledged that he had blocked our accounts as well as another 73 others. All that Healey’s office needed to do was write a letter telling the department to unblock everyone and change its practice.

 

Instead, it wrote to us, saying it wouldn’t lift a finger.

 

While we hoped the simple uncontested nature of the violation of our rights would mean that the AGO would take actions, we’ve grown accustomed to Healey failing on issues of transparency and accountability. When we received the letter from her office declining to protect the First Amendment, we suspected, rightly, that her office is equally guilty. We put in a records request and found that indeed, multiple accounts are blocked from the AGO’s social media pages.

 

Healey is a major factor in the lack of functional transparency in Massachusetts. Her abuse of the First Amendment and refusal to protect the rights to information are why agencies like the CPD argue that they can block people, effectively silencing criticism in order to enforce their arbitrary rules.

 

Healey’s office’s behavior is the ultimate shield for every official who runs a government social media account.


This article was produced in collaboration with the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism with CriticalMA. To see more reporting like this, please donate at givetobinj.org.

MAYA SHAFFER
Website | + posts

Maya is the editor of Critical Mass, which produces investigative reports primarily on issues of transparency and accountability in government in Massachusetts.

    This author does not have any more posts.

Filed Under: News, NEWS+OPINIONS Tagged With: #mapoli, AG, attorney general, Chick-fil-A, Chicopee, criminal justice, Critical MA, Facebook, FOIA, Healey, LGBTQ, Massachusetts, Police, public information, public records, Shoestring, social media, Twitter, western Mass

WHAT’S NEW

The Legendary Past And Uncertain Future Of The Harvard Square Theatre

The Legendary Past And Uncertain Future Of The Harvard Square Theatre

State Wire: Funds Aim To Support Municipalities With Expanded Mail Voting

State Wire: Funds Aim To Support Municipalities With Expanded Mail Voting

Parks & Checks: Wasteful, Opaque Bookkeeping At Two City Of Boston Nonprofit Arms

Parks & Checks: Wasteful, Opaque Bookkeeping At Two City Of Boston Nonprofit Arms

Surf’s Upcycled: Meet The Bay State Surfers Conserving The Oceans Where They Ride

Surf’s Upcycled: Meet The Bay State Surfers Conserving The Oceans Where They Ride

State Wire: Public Supports Changes To High-Stakes Testing For Mass Students

State Wire: Public Supports Changes To High-Stakes Testing For Mass Students

State Wire: White Supremacist Gatherings, Incidents Hit All-Time High In New England

State Wire: White Supremacist Gatherings, Incidents Hit All-Time High In New England

Primary Sidebar

LOCAL EVENTS

AAN Wire


Most Popular

  • Does Massachusetts Underestimate Its Greenhouse Gas Emissions?
  • The Most Expensive Massachusetts City For Car Insurance (No, It’s Not Boston)
  • If You Find A Mini Felted Animal Around Boston, This Is Where It Came From
  • FOTOBOM: BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND THE E STREET BAND @ TD GARDEN
  • Daring Greatly: TikTok Star Alden McWayne (aka Gucci Pineapple) On Scheming And Dreaming

Footer

Social Buttons

DigBoston facebook DigBoston Twitter DigBoston Instagram

Masthead

About

Advertise

Customer Service

About Us

DigBoston is a one-stop nexus for everything worth doing or knowing in the Boston area. It's an alt-weekly, it's a website, it's an email blast, it's a twitter account, it's that cool party that you were at last night ... hey, you're reading it, so it's gotta be good. For advertising inquiries: sales@digboston.com To reach editorial (and for inquiries about internship opportunities): editorial@digboston.com