Trump unblocks critics on Twitter after court's order

The district court argued that it was incumbent on the White House to immediately unblock the other people who have been shut off because of political viewpoints.

(AFP PHOTO / Mandel NGAN)

New Delhi: US President Donald Trump unblocked many of his critics on Twitter following a court ruling that he cannot shut opposing viewpoints. As per the ruling of a federal district court judge, blocking people from president’s ‘@realDonaldTrump’ account violated First Amendment free speech rights in a case brought by The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, reported AFP. The seven people named in the suit were unblocked. As per reports the institute had given a list of people to the Department of Justice be unblocked by Donald Trump, out which 41 more people are remaining. The district court argued that it was incumbent on the White House to immediately unblock the other people, even if they are not mentioned in the list but have been shut off because of political viewpoints. The First Amendment prohibits the president from blocking Twitter users simply because they have criticised him, the institute was quoted as saying by AFP.