The Court will define whether the right to information can be exercised via social networks

Edward Murillo

Newspaper La Jornada
Monday, July 11, 2022, p. 8

The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) will determine if the right to petition can be exercised through social networks, which would force any authority to give a formal response to requests made by citizens on Facebook, Twitter or any other platform. Similary.

So far, federal courts have given contradictory rulings on the subject, so the decision made by the highest court will establish jurisprudence on the way in which these matters should be resolved.

The specific case is a request about public spending in Guadalajara, Jalisco, which a citizen raised directly to the official Twitter account of the city council, @GuadalajaraGobon February 11, 2021, to which he received no response.

The affected then promoted an amparo, which was rejected by the tenth district court in administrative, civil and labor matters, based in Zapopan, for which it then asked a collegiate court to review the case.

After examining the matter, the magistrates of the fourth collegiate court in administrative matters of the third circuit decided that the constitutional issue was so novel that the direct intervention of the SCJN was necessary.

“Thus things are, it is estimated that to resolve the litigation in the present matter, it is necessary to interpret the provisions of article 8 of the Federal Constitution, to define whether ‘Twitter’ can be considered solely as a platform that promotes and enhances freedom. of expression of the users, or if their work in promoting democratic values ​​should also be recognized, serving as a means to validly access the information that is in the hands of the authorities through the exercise of the right of petition provided for in article 8 ° of the Federal Constitution”, indicated the collegiate.

The magistrates pointed out that constitutional rights need a new interpretation as a result of new information technologies, where it is necessary to define whether the paradigm of social networks is already part of the democratic State.

Thus, the matter was referred to the SCJN as amparo under review 245/2022, whose subject was defined as the need to establish the meaning and scope of the human right to freedom of expression and access to information in light of article 8 of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States.

The issue itself is not new, but to date there is no jurisprudence, since the rulings in this regard have been contradictory.

The most relevant so far is the sentence of a federal judge who, in November 2020, ordered the then president of the Chamber of Deputies, Laura Rojas, to attend to a citizen’s request raised through the Twitter account @Mx_Diputados.

The main argument was that the authorities have a constitutional obligation to attend to citizen petitions as long as they are presented in a peaceful and respectful manner. There are, however, three other similar cases that have been dismissed in federal courts and tribunals.