Facebook to Allow School Officials to Demand Students' Posts Removed in Maryland

For "questionable or prohibited language"

I was critical earlier this year when lawmakers in my home state of Maryland enacted "Grace's Law," purporting to ban so-called cyberbullying — in this case, the use of hurtful online language as part of a course of conduct that inflicts serious emotional distress or harassment on a Maryland juvenile, apparently whether or not the speaker knows that the person distressed by the speech is a Maryland juvenile. I predicted that the law would run into trouble in the courts for infringing on much speech protected by the First Amendment.

On Tuesday, the new law took effect, and this morning Maryland attorney general Douglas Gansler unveiled a joint initiative with Facebook and the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) in which Facebook will create a new program for school officials, the Educator Escalation Channel — initially limited to use in the state of Maryland, presumably pending similar enactments elsewhere — allowing the officials to object to Facebook users' content. Per local radio station WTOP, Maryland school officials will be offered the chance to flag "questionable or prohibited" language. That is to say, they will flag speech that isn't prohibited by the new law but which they deem "questionable."