Washington: Numerous Cities Maintain Unconstitutional Social Media Comment Policies

On October 29, 2026, FIRE wrote to 20 Washington cities that unconstitutionally restrict public comments on their social media pages. The cities’ policies included prohibitions on “offensive” language, “personal attacks,” comments that promote “discrimination,” “religious” or “political” speech, “misinformation,” and “vulgarity.” The letters reminded each city that their policies must comply with the First Amendment, which bars the government from imposing viewpoint-based, vague, or overly broad restrictions on commenters’ speech. 

As each city maintains rules that violate the First Amendment, FIRE called on the cities to revise their policies.