Elected officials in Charlottesville, the Virginia city that was the scene of the infamous Unite the Right rally in 2017, have decided to suspend virtual public comments during City Council meetings.
The decision comes after white supremacists and anti-Semites crashed the Zoom stream used for the public meeting and called for a race war.
Now, if anyone wants to voice a concern or opinion during such meetings, they will have to attend in person.
Mayor Lloyd Snook said that officials “struggled” to come up with constitutionally viable solutions to stop the offensive commentary, including some remarks espousing conspiracy theories. However, unanimously the council voted 4-0 (with one member, Leah Puryear, being absent) to mute the remote comment options.
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“We struggled for a while in trying to figure out what we could constitutionally do and concluded there was not really a good answer,” Snook said to the Daily Progress.
The issue at the core of their discussion was whether suspending remote users’ ability to comment virtually violates anyone’s First Amendment speech rights.
“Do we listen to everybody as they’re ranting, knowing that if they were there in person, they probably wouldn’t do it but feel free to do it anonymously online, while still having a distinct impact on the people listening?” Snook added.
Council member Brian Pinkston said he and his colleagues made a “judgment call” that considered what was best for the care of the community, blocking language in the public square that could be deeply hurtful.
“The gross insult” to community members was unacceptable, “even under the broadest interpretation of the First Amendment,” City attorney Jacob StromanStroman told Snook.
The elected official noted that while the council wanted to show it clearly values the public’s input and their desire to participate remotely, it had a responsibility to safeguard the community…
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