By Bill Rankin | The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A federal judge on Tuesday ordered former DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones to pay $45,652 in damages and legal fees to a man he blocked on his Facebook page while serving in the state Legislature.
Jones blocked his constituent, Tomas Miko, from his social media page after the two exchanged testy posts in March 2020 about proposed immigration legislation sponsored by Jones when he was a state representative. Also following their crossfire, Jones deleted Miko’s dissenting comments.
Miko filed a federal lawsuit against Jones a few months later, alleging Jones deleted Miko’s comments to silence his criticism. In a decision issued last year, U.S. District Judge Stephen Grimberg noted that when public figures block constituents from their social media profiles to prevent them from expressing contrary views, such acts constitute “viewpoint discrimination.”
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