Question

Corts 3. The Supreme Court has defined public figures as those who have "voluntarily exposed themselves to increased risk of injury by assuming an influential role in ordering society." When deciding whether someone is a public figure, courts look at whether this person has received press coverage, sought the public spotlight, and has the opportunity to publicly rebut the accusations. Some have argued that social media makes anyone with a public Facebook profile or a certain number of Twitter followers a public figure. Do you agree? Should courts revisit the defini- tion of "public figure" in light of social media?

Answer 1

Some of the arguments regarding public figures are correct in thelight of social media. Social media today are so powerful that anyone canturn themselves into the public by doing something unusual because theyknow the media is there to take action and turn them into a public figure.Anyone becomes easy to be a public figure and identifies himself as a risktaker for the service of society. Courts should change the definition ofpublic figures and make some modifications that make this rule strongand easily recognize public characters.