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Third Circuit Keeps Objective Standard to Weigh Facebook Threats

By Saranac Hale Spencer
October 02, 2013

Prompted by a case involving threats made on Facebook, the Third Circuit has ruled the objective-intent standard for assessing threats still stands.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit followed the lead of most circuits that have ruled on the issue ' with the exception of the Ninth Circuit ' declining to interpret a 2003 opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court as requiring subjective intent from the speaker in order to trigger the true-threat exception to the First Amendment's protection of speech. United States v. Elonis, No. 12-3798 (3rd Cir. Sept. 19, 2013).

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