Tag Archives: Twitter

SCOTUS keeps Texas’ stupid social media censorship law blocked

Posted on July 2, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

The US Supreme Court did an awful lot of Very Bad Things this past week. You don’t need me to get into that, the entire Internet is screaming about it, with much justification. They also did at least one not … Continue reading →

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SCOTUS has its hearing on the stupid social media censorship law

Posted on February 27, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Some modest hope, perhaps, that we’ll get a not-terrible ruling. The Supreme Court cast doubt Monday on state laws that could affect how Facebook, TikTok, X, YouTube, and other social media platforms regulate content posted by their users. The cases … Continue reading →

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Media Matters sues Ken Paxton

Posted on December 16, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Turnabout is fair play. Whether it’s justiciable or not, we’ll see. Media Matters for America sued Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in federal court late Monday, alleging that Paxton violated the First Amendment last month and chilled its work when … Continue reading →

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Musk and Paxton versus freedom of speech

Posted on November 27, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

First there was this. It didn’t quite happen the moment court was open, as Elon Musk the billionaire owner of X/Twitter had promised, but at the end of Monday, the social media platform did file its “thermonuclear” lawsuit against media … Continue reading →

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More on the limits of social media monitoring for school violence prevention

Posted on December 19, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Some good stuff from the DMN. When Social Sentinel representatives pitched their service to Florida’s Gulf Coast State College in 2018, they billed it as an innovative way to find threats of suicides and shootings posted online. But for the … Continue reading →

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Fifth Circuit upholds Texas’ ridiculous social media censorship law

Posted on September 19, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Back to you, SCOTUS. A Texas law prohibiting large social media companies from banning users’ posts based on their political viewpoints will go into effect after a federal appeals court on Friday lifted a block placed on the statute. NetChoice … Continue reading →

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Is he Elon Musk’s lawyer now?

Posted on June 8, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Someone please explain this to me. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Monday he is investigating Twitter over its reporting of how many accounts on the platform are from bots and fake users, saying the company may be misrepresenting the … Continue reading →

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Social media monitoring is not a solution to school shootings

Posted on June 4, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

While current Republican “solutions” for gun violence include door control and arming teachers, one “solution” that has been in place for the past few years has been monitoring social media for signs of gun-related threats. That was in place in … Continue reading →

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SCOTUS puts Texas’ stupid social media censorship law back on hold

Posted on June 1, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Good. The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked a Texas law that prohibits large social media companies, such as Facebook or Twitter, from banning or removing users’ posts based on political viewpoints. The justices, in a 5-4 vote, granted NetChoice … Continue reading →

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Florida’s stupid social media censorship law knocked down by appeals court

Posted on May 25, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

With an opinion from a Trump judge, no less. A Florida law intended to punish social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter is an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment, a federal appeals court ruled Monday, dealing a major … Continue reading →

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Texas asks SCOTUS to not block its stupid social media law

Posted on May 20, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

As you’d expect. The Supreme Court should allow a sweeping Texas law to remain in effect that restricts the ability of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to moderate their platforms, according to the state’s attorney general. In a filing to the Court … Continue reading →

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SCOTUS asked to again block that stupid social media censorship law

Posted on May 17, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Please save us from the lawless Fifth Circuit. Having to make such an ask of this SCOTUS sure is a jaw-grinding experience. Lobbying groups representing Facebook, Twitter, Google and other tech companies filed an emergency request with the U.S. Supreme … Continue reading →

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That stupid social media censorship law has been unblocked

Posted on May 13, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

The Fifth Circuit continues to debase itself. A federal appeals court on Wednesday reinstated a Republican-backed Texas law that prohibits large social media companies from banning users over their political viewpoints. The decision hands a win to Republicans who have … Continue reading →

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Social media censorship law blocked

Posted on December 2, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

For now. As long as the outlaw Fifth Circuit exists, we can’t say more than that. A federal judge on Wednesday blocked a Texas law that seeks to restrict how social media companies moderate their content and was championed by … Continue reading →

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Social media censorship lawsuit has its day in court

Posted on December 1, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

It’s a very dumb law that will hopefully be stopped before it takes effect tomorrow. Lawyers for two large tech industry groups appeared Monday in federal court in Austin to argue that Texas’ new social media law — inspired by … Continue reading →

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Lawsuit filed over our very dumb new social media “censorship” law

Posted on September 25, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

So very dumb. Texas is being sued over its new law barring social media platforms from banning users over their political views by two trade associations that represent some of the industry’s biggest online companies. NetChoice and the Computer and … Continue reading →

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Paxton agrees to unblock Twitter critics

Posted on July 15, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Our long national nightmare is over. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton will no longer block ​users from his personal account for expressing “First Amendment-protected viewpoints” as part of an agreement to end a lawsuit where plaintiffs say they were unconstitutionally … Continue reading →

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Twitter lawsuit against Paxton dismissed

Posted on May 14, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

That’s not quite the end of it, though. A federal judge in California on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit brought by Twitter against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose legal efforts to investigate the social media platform after it suspended President … Continue reading →

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Paxton unblocks Twitter users who sued him

Posted on May 8, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Blink. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has unblocked on Twitter the nine Texans who sued him after they say they were unconstitutionally blocked for criticizing him or his policies on the social media platform. In a lawsuit filed in April, … Continue reading →

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Paxton sued by Twitter users

Posted on April 9, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Maybe he should just get offline. A group of Texans and a free speech advocacy group are suing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in federal court, accusing him of unconstitutionally blocking nine people on Twitter for criticizing him or his … Continue reading →

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Paxton responds to Twitter lawsuit

Posted on March 18, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

He said something about it, anyway. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Wednesday that a lawsuit by Twitter won’t deter his office from investigating the content moderation practices of the social media giant and four other major technology companies. Twitter … Continue reading →

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Twitter sues Paxton

Posted on March 10, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

How the tables have turned. Twitter filed a lawsuit against Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a California federal court Monday and asked a judge to halt the state’s top lawyer from investigating the company. The social media giant’s … Continue reading →

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Some Republican women unhappy about Sid Miller

Posted on November 5, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Noted for the record. For many female Texans working in Republican politics, last month’s release of a video showing GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump boasting about groping women was bad enough. They have since watched in astonishment as male elected … Continue reading →

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Black Lives Matter takes an interest in the Harris County DA race

Posted on March 30, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

This will be worth watching. Inspired by voters in Chicago and Cleveland who booted top prosecutors last week with candidates who pledged more accountability in police shootings, Houston-area Black Lives Matter activists have started a #ByeDevon social media campaign to … Continue reading →

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Twelve years

Posted on January 1, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Twelve years ago today, I started this blog. That was on blogspot – believe it or not, it still exists; truly, the Internet is forever – and a few months later I had my own domain. I don’t do retrospectives, … Continue reading →

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Stay classy, Greg Abbott

Posted on August 20, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

From over the weekend. A Twitter poster who called Wendy Davis an “idiot” and “retard Barbie,” and said Greg Abbott would demolish her in the governor’s election, got a thank-you from Abbott’s campaign also via Twitter. The exchange prompted a … Continue reading →

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July finance reports for Controller candidates

Posted on July 17, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Continuing my look at July 2013 campaign finance reports for city candidates, here’s a look at the reports for the two Contoller hopefuls, incumbent Ronald Green and challenger Bill Frazer. Candidate Raised Spent On Hand Loan ————————————————- Green 71,548 31,185 … Continue reading →

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Social media update

Posted on January 15, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

This is just a friendly reminder that you can find much of this blog’s content on the official Off the Kuff Facebook page, which I hope you will like. I was asked recently what the purpose of that page was, … Continue reading →

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Day One at the SBOE

Posted on July 21, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s your TFN Insider coverage of today’s SBOE science hearings. In Part I of the hearings, we find that the SBOE may not be such a major factor in school curriculum any more: 10:20  – Board members are quizzing the … Continue reading →

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Saturday video break: We Three Kings are totally on Twitter

Posted on December 18, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

If the Christmas story were happening today, this is how it might go down: Thanks to Harold for finding this.

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The social network campaign

Posted on October 5, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Governor Perry won’t show up at a debate, but he is a presence on the Internet. The list of things that Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Bill White, his Democratic opponent in November, disagree upon is long. But on the … Continue reading →

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School social media policies

Posted on August 30, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

The DMN has an interesting look at how Dallas-area school districts handle social networking by its employees. [S]chool districts and teachers trying to reach and engage students and parents find that using the latest and most popular technology is faster, … Continue reading →

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The city of Houston’s social media guidelines

Posted on August 9, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

I received the following email from Justin Concepcion, who manages social media for Mayor Parker’s office, in response to the questions I asked in this post about how the city of Houston handles social media: We are in the process … Continue reading →

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Social media guidelines in San Antonio

Posted on August 9, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Interesting. There’s no standard policy or set of procedures governing how public entities or their employees should use social networking sites. Agencies are in various stages of evaluating what constitutes proper online conduct. Bexar County is writing a social media … Continue reading →

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