Similarly to President Trump, Ocasio-Cortez maintains that she blocks accounts who harass her online. According to the congresswoman, she has blocked less than 20 individuals, despite having more than five million followers. Furthermore, Ocasio-Cortez responded to The Knight Institute’s letter by stating that “harassment is not a viewpoint.”
Her rebuttal came via Twitter in the following posts:
People are free to speak whatever classist, racist, false, misogynistic, bigoted comments they’d like.
They do not have the right to force others to endure their harassment and abuse. ✌🏽
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) August 29, 2019
Various individuals chose to issue lawsuits against Ocasio-Cortez after she blocked them from accessing her @AOC Twitter account.
Elected Officials and Social Media Accounts
The rise of technology has led to more and more elected officials using social media to communicate with the masses. There was also a time where a team of professionals managed the accounts of various politicians; however, it’s becoming more common for elected officials to manage and post from their own pages. This is certainly something which Trump embraced throughout the 2016 election and beyond.