Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault must unblock Rebel News founder Ezra Levant on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, under the terms of a court order.
Time to get off Twitter if you already haven’t.
Twitter was always walking the “Nazi bar” line, but they’ve officially opened the doors and have a “Swastika sing-along” night now.
If you’re a government official, and you don’t want your Tweets leveraged by fascist grifters, get off the platform that’s owned by a fascist grifter who’s idolized by lesser fascist grifters.
That seems like the right decision. Not that blocking should never happen, but that a formal process is followed to ensure that blocks are not used simply to silence dissent.
That phrasing, though, makes it sound like it’s the minister’s personal account. If that’s the case, then that’s a big problem. There should be a ministerial account to ensure continuity and to keep work separate from life. That is the account that should be kept open. I’m just a flunky and I know better than to use my personal accounts for work and vice versa.
At issue in the case was whether Guilbeault’s X account should be considered a personal social media account or an official government one.
In an affidavit filed with the court, Treasury Board Secretariat official Tracey Headley said Service Canada confirmed that the account in question was not an official government of Canada social media account.
Levant argued in the initial notice of application to the court that the Guilbeault account had all the trappings of an official, state-run account, adding the content was public in nature.
That is why the work account should be separate from the personal account. While there might be certain kinds of work where that might not apply (actors?), a ministerial account should be mandatory for continuity through cabinet shuffles and changing governments. In fact, it should be prohibited to use an account created before becoming a minister and which might continue to be used after losing your portfolio.
I’m not sure how I would have decided this case, but I would tend to side with Levant’s position in principle. If you’re using it in an official capacity, then it’s de facto official.
Nobody in government should be on nazi media sites. Quit twitter immediately.
He should shut it down and move to Mastodon. The lack of algorithm and the political leanings there will keep the dogs at bay.
If he knew about the fediverse, he would have to make internet access illegal to have the amount of power he wants the feds to have, lmao.
Well, I can see this leading to harrasment.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault must unblock Rebel News founder Ezra Levant on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, under the terms of a court order.
The order issued by Federal Court Justice Russel Zinn ends an action Levant filed two years ago claiming the Liberal minister was violating his constitutional rights by blocking him.
Levant argued that his inability to see or respond to Guilbeault’s posts on the platform limited his ability to engage in debate on matters of public concern.
The order says the parties acknowledge that Guilbeault and the federal government “do not admit and in fact deny any liability in respect of the allegations made in the application.”
However, under the order, Guilbeault must ensure his X account unblocks Levant immediately and for as long as the minister remains a member of Parliament.
Rebel News says it has a generally conservative world view, billing the outlet as a supporter of freedom and antidote to the mainstream media.
The original article contains 593 words, the summary contains 163 words. Saved 73%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
