Katie Fallow
Katie Fallow is deputy litigation director at the Knight First Amendment Institute, where she focuses on threats to free speech and a free press in the digital age, particularly in the area of social media.
Fallow spearheads the Institute’s litigation concerning the government’s use of social media. She was one of the lead lawyers in the Institute’s ground-breaking case challenging President Trump’s blocking of people from his @realDonaldTrump Twitter account. Fallow also won the first federal appellate case holding that public officials who use social media accounts for official purposes have created a public forum and may not block people from those virtual forums based on viewpoint. Fallow is also litigating the Institute’s challenges to regulations requiring individuals to provide their social media handles to the government for collection and surveillance.
Fallow regularly appears in the media to discuss the Institute’s litigation docket and comment on government regulation of public forums and digital spaces.
Before joining the Knight Institute, Fallow was a litigation partner at Jenner & Block, LLP in Washington, D.C., where she represented video game makers in a long line of challenges to government restrictions on video games, culminating in the Supreme Court’s landmark case of EMA v. Brown, holding that violent video games are protected speech. She also defended The Huffington Post and other news outlets against defamation claims and filed numerous merits and amicus briefs in the Supreme Court on free speech issues, including sexually explicit speech, offensive speech, fighting words, and libel. After leaving Jenner & Block, Fallow was deputy director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the Federal Trade Commission.
She graduated from the University of California at Berkeley and Harvard Law School. After law school, she clerked for Judge Robert E. Keeton of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts and Judge Rosemary Barkett of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
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Quick Take : Public Officials and Social Media
When It Comes to Social Media Blocking, Campaign Accounts are Different
Why true campaign accounts may not be First Amendment public forums
By Alyssa Morones & Katie Fallow -
Deep Dive : Public Officials and Social Media
Official Censorship Should Have No Place in the Digital Public Square
Courts are barring public officials from blocking critics from their social media accounts.
By Jameel Jaffer & Katie Fallow -
Analysis
A Cyberbully in the Oval Office
Executive order aimed at regulating social media is a profoundly dangerous attempt to punish Twitter for its speech
By Katie Fallow -
Analysis
How Should Politicians Use Social Media?
Tips for protecting an individual’s right to participate in digital town halls
By Katie Fallow -
Analysis
As Public Forums Move Online, So Does the First Amendment
The Supreme Court's decision in Manhattan Community Access Corp. v. Halleck could affect protections against censorship on online public forums
By Katie Fallow -
Analysis
Fourth Circuit Holds that Blocking on Public Official’s Social Media Page Violates First Amendment
Knight Senior Staff Attorney Katie Fallow and intern Ella Epstein comment on Davison v. Randall in MediaLawLetter
By Katie Fallow & Ella Epstein -
Analysis
CNN Suit Is an Important and Necessary Defense of Press Freedom
Revoking CNN's White House credentials undercuts role of the press as representatives of the people
By Jameel Jaffer & Katie Fallow -
Analysis
Twitter is the Modern Public Square. So Can the President Block You?
At the heart of Knight Institute's Trump Twitter lawsuit is the principle that every citizen has a right to speak and be heard
By Katie Fallow -
Analysis
Why Is the Government Searching Cellphones?
Reports of device searches at the border suggests government is expanding an unconstitutional program
By Katie Fallow