Clay Clavert, a communications professor at the University of Florida in Gainsville, argues in a Huffington Post piece that the U.S. Supreme Court should take up a Pennsylvania case in which rap lyrics were used as evidence in a criminal conviction. Anthony Elonis was convicted in federal court in Philadelphia for posting rap lyrics containing threats of violence on Facebook.
True threats are not protected by the First Amendment, just like obscenity, child porn and fighting words, Clavert writes. At issue in those Pennsylvania cases is how social media affects the analysis of what constitutes true threats, Calvert further writes: "Will people discount or treat less seriously speech posted on Facebook or a video uploaded to YouTube than they would in-person or in a traditional medium such as newspapers or television? The Court never has considered how the nature of online media affects a true threats analysis."
Lawyer and Legal Journalist
