The following is Part 4 in a multi-part series on the Twitter accounts of the Montgomery County Council. It has been written and submitted by an anonymous author. Part 1 on Marc Elrich can be found here. Part 2 on Will Jawando can be found here. Part 3 on other Council Members can be found here. If you have been blocked by any members of the Montgomery County Council on Twitter, please contact us at inquiry@cleanslatemoco.com
As already covered in Part 1, the public vs personal designation of social media accounts for elected officials has been heavily debated in courts. In all of these cases the basic legal premise that was established is that a public official can violate an individual’s constitutional rights by blocking them or restricting their access. Elected officials have tried to avoid this by claiming that their social media site (or handle) is “personal” and not being used in their capacity as an elected official. Courts have wrestled with the distinction between public and private social media accounts, and while there are not black/white lines, they have generally considered that a social media account is being used for government business (and not personal) when it:
- links to a public office address/email or phone number,
- displays government symbols,
- shares information about government services or meetings, or
- asks for input on government business (ACLU-MA).
Through an MPIA request, CleanSlate has received a response back from County Council President Evan Glass. The MPIA solicited a listing of the blocked accounts for two Twitter accounts Evan Glass administers.
In response to the MPIA, Evan reported that the account @CMEvanGlass does not have any users currently blocked. If you are blocked by this account, please let us know!
Evan refused to turn over the details of the account @EvanMGlass. His defense was that this was a personal account and therefore not subject to public disclosure under the MPIA. What is interesting is that Evan was first elected to the County Council in November 2019, yet his “official” account is not yet 3 years old. So for a period of time, either Evan did not conduct any county business on Twitter, or he used his much more prominent Twitter account (@EvanMGlass).
By analyzing the @EvanMGlass twitter account, conclusions can be made on the validity of the claim that it is a “personal” account.
Using available software, we conducted an analysis of 600 of the most recent tweets for @EvanMGlass. This represents all of the tweets between September 2022 and February 2023.
Here is the break down of the types of tweets posted by the account, in which you can see that roughly 35% of the tweets are original content, 35% are replies to other twitter users, 13% are retweets, 9% are quoted tweets of other twitter users, and 8% are replies to his own tweets. This reveals that Evan uses this account primarily to reply to other twitter users and to share original content. However, 22% of his tweets are an amplification of other users (retweets and quotes).
Of the accounts that Evan retweets, the most frequent retweet is his “official” twitter account. His “official” account is also prominent for quotes. This technique allows an account with limited engagement and content posting to reach a wider audience. Evan is clearly using his “personal” account to amplify official government business.
Let’s look closer at the Evan’s replies (35% of his tweets), as this would signify that he is using @EvanMGlass to interact with constituents related on county related business.
Evan’s replies are not concentrated to specific individuals but cover a wide range of individuals. This is evidence that the account is being used as a form of communication with community members. Furthermore, here is a sampling of the replies, where you can see he is providing answers, initiating plans, and building relationships with individuals he represents in an official capacity.
Here are additional examples of Evan engaging with constituents to provide official government information.
The other majority of tweets from this account are tweets that are original content. In reviewing the timeline of Evan’s personal account there is a plethora of examples in which he violates the criteria used by courts for an elected official to support the designation of a personal account. Below are some that illustrate that wide range of violations.
Conducting official county business
Sharing official county news and developments
Representing Montgomery County as a County Member
Meeting with County representatives
The list of tweets can continue. But these alone provide enough evidence that Evan views his twitter account as a platform to communicate to the public he serves and solicit their input.
Evan must release his current listing of blocked individuals, recognizing that his claim that this is a “personal” account is fraudulent. If not, the public should organize for a legal challenge.
