LANCASTER, Pa. — The Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office has turned off public comments on its Facebook page, saying too many posts had turned into attacks on crime victims and racist slurs aimed at defendants.
The office switched off comments Tuesday afternoon, Nov. 3, and announced the change in a post on its page. It says the suspension will last “until further notice.”
What happened
In its announcement, the office said comments on its page had become frequently “off-topic and outlandish,” and that some “blame victims for their suffering or are outright racist toward defendants.”
The office pointed to several recent examples:
- A post about a Lancaster city man who pleaded guilty to raping an unconscious woman before she died drew comments blaming the victim for her own death and calling the defendant racist slurs, LNP | LancasterOnline reported. Other comments on that post turned into name-calling over the defendant’s perceived politics.
- A post about a man accused of trying to assault a Lancaster County magisterial district judge drew comments supporting him.
- Throughout October, posts honoring domestic violence victims and praising police for connecting people struggling with addiction to recovery help also drew off-topic or disrespectful comments.
Why the DA says she did it
District Attorney Heather Adams decided the comments were not helping the office’s mission, “in particular the goal of protecting victims and their families from further harm,” the office said.
“The victims of crimes highlighted on our page are our neighbors,” the post said. “To subject them to ridicule or blame on social media does a disservice to them, especially in light of the pain they have already been forced to endure.”
The office also reminded readers that defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty, and said it shares case information “to keep the public informed and safe, not to invite racist or otherwise derogatory comments.”
“Many online forums exist where comments such as these can be made, but the District Attorney’s Office is not obligated to provide such a forum,” the office wrote.
Office spokesperson Erik Yabor told LNP | LancasterOnline that the subject and tone of comments had “intensified in a negative direction lately,” and that the policy could be reevaluated later. The change applies only to Facebook; the office’s other social media accounts are not affected.
Can a government office do that?
Government social media pages raise free speech questions. In a 2024 case, Lindke v. Freed, the U.S. Supreme Court set rules for when a public official’s social media activity counts as government action under the First Amendment.
Legal analysts have generally said that when a government agency’s official page deletes some comments or blocks certain users, it can run into First Amendment problems, especially if it appears to be targeting particular viewpoints. Turning comments off for everyone, the way the DA’s office did, is widely seen as a safer approach because it treats all commenters the same. The Supreme Court has not ruled directly on that question.
The office’s posts remain public, and residents can still share them, contact the office directly, or discuss its cases elsewhere online.
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