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Citizen Sues Nextdoor.com
Arthur West, of Olympia Washington, was an active user of the Nextdoor.com app. That is, until they didn’t like what he had to say and then kicked him off the platform.
Not one to be silenced, West sued Nextdoor and it’s CEO, using the precedent from a landmark sex offender case, Packingham v. North Carolina, that held the government cannot block an individual’s access to social media – which is the modern day “public square”.
West’s argument, that in partnering with government agencies, such as law enforcement, Nextdoor is acting as a quasi public body and therefore cannot restrict people from it’s public square. This is precisely the issue FAC has had with the company and their policy of banning registrants and their cohabitants from their website. (see: https://floridaactioncommittee.org/fac-response-to-nextdoor-coms-reply/ and https://floridaactioncommittee.org/fac-letter-to-nextdoor-com/).
This is a case we will be watching closely and would love to participate in.
A copy of the complaint can be found here: West v. NextDoor
Thanks to the member who alerted us to it’s filing!
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@ Sean: I’m not sure what exactly is meant by “partners with”, but the police department in my area is active in posting items on the local NextDoor platform. Typically, they post announcements about upcoming meet-and-greet events, a recent crime and asking for any potential witnesses, etc. I don’t believe our local LEOs “monitor” people’s comments or postings on NextDoor. And I have never seen LEOs post a comment to anyone else’s NextDoor post. So it is my experience that they typically use it as a “Notification” platform, not an interaction platform.
I asked my “3 month cop” who does my registration and “he says….. They dont have time for that foolishness to be checking on sites like Nextdoor”.
(he also told me not to put any merit into Packingham, Gundy and the ex post facto challenge……)
Then he asked the age-old question that cops ask when they are questioned about the law and they dont know the law.
“Where did you get your law degree from?”
I had to snicker!
Packingham was decided by the Supreme Court of the United States. I wonder what he meant by not putting any “merit” into the decision? Is he trying to impose restrictions on your social media access?
FAC, This is a Broward Sheriff with “sex crimes”. I have to be honest, he is a good/nice cop, yet he is “confused” when it comes to actual LAW. He thought, up until 6-9 months ago I couldnt live within 2,500 of a park, nor go into a park. (I live about 200′ from a park–for the past 18 years!!) He didnt even know what SORNA was, or SORR.
I told him that Packingham was already decided/heard, yet he said “it wouldnt pass”. He told me not to put to much faith in these things…
(This is what is keeping me alive about this point)
I think he is just ignorant on the new & upcoming things that are being decided in court. He didnt know about the sex offender exclusion on Amendment 4……
Remember, he is a cop. His job is NOT to know the laws… his job is to put people in jail—innocent or not.
As far as “social media access” for me….. I had 2 outlets; Facebook & Nextdoor.
Facebook banned me for the sex offender thing because I called someone (a friend) a “snowflake” and they got PO’ed and reported me as a sex offender. I was on Facebook for about 4 years previously.
Nextdoor?? Well, we have already talked (FAC & me) and we all know how that is going.
The Michigan laws still have not been changed and apparently still being enforced expect as they apply to the actually plaintiffs in the case that was decided HOW long ago? I also haven’t heard anything about that decision positively impacting people in the other states in the 6th, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee. Anyone form Kentucky been put back in the 10 year count instead of the 20? How about Tennessee? Do out of staters convicted before the law changed still have to register for at least 5 years and abides by the residency restrictions before they can be removed regardless of how long they have already been on the registry? And Ohio. Are out of staters still classified as Tier 3 because they come from Florida, Alabama, etc, even though they were classified as lower level offenders before the law changed and like people convicted in Ohio are now? Yeah, don’t put much faith in such things.
For many of these law enforcement officials the Supreme Court rulings are a threat to their job security. They hide from these rulings hoping they will go away or that their ‘subjects’ will be ignorant of them. Thanks to FAC that won’t happen.
typical pig response
Is FAC going to open a donation box for their own lawsuit against Nextdoor? If so, when/where can I donate?
Or is FAC going to wait till the ex post facto thing pans out?
Either way, you have my support
Would the same apply to Facebook, where I was expelled because a vigilante found me and reported me to FB who then booted me off?
Would the same what? Not sure what you mean.
Unfortunately, no, because it was not the government that was involved in keeping you off of Facebook. Instead, it was a matter of Facebook’s own terms of use governing who may and may not access.
Argument here is that since Nextdoor “partners” with Law Enforcement, they are serving a government role.
They (Nextdoor) “claims” that they partner with police and Law enforcement agencies. Is there any way that they just posted/wrote that to dissuade further inquiries? Bolster their side?
In other words are/were they not being truthful with that statement?
(remember they never answered FAC about that inquiry thru two requests)
Trust no one when it comes to laws regarding sex offenders; They make them up as they go along to suit their own agenda
Which appears on the surface to be in violation of California law which the FACEbook TOS says governs any disputes between you and them.
This is good news indeed!! I was rudely thrown off the site for the crime of living with a sex offender.
I was invited by my HOA to join and then denied by the site. I have as much right as anyone to know if something is going on in my neighborhood that is of concern to all citizens.
Same here. I am the president of the HOA, but cannot join next door because a registered sex offender lives in my home
If he is winning in that situation? Then why are we getting kicked off Facebook?
Facebook has the right to kick off whomever it wants. The courts have not ruled otherwise, to my knowledge.