582 U.S. 98 (2017)
A blanket ban on registrants using social media violates the First Amendment. The internet is “the modern public square.”
Good law. Still followed. Later cases may have narrowed it — see Scope. Binds every court in the country on the federal question it decides.
North Carolina made it a felony for any registrant to access a commercial social networking site that allows minors as members. Lester Packingham was prosecuted after posting on Facebook about a dismissed traffic ticket. There was no allegation that he contacted a minor.
All eight participating justices agreed the law was invalid. Calling social media “the modern public square,” it held the ban too broad: it barred access to mainstream sites entirely, regardless of any contact with a minor or misuse of the platform.
Packingham put a First Amendment ceiling on internet restrictions. States can target conduct that leads to abuse, such as contacting a minor, but cannot wall registrants off from ordinary online life. Broad internet bans in several states were rewritten after it.
The Court said states may still enact narrowly tailored laws, such as barring contact with minors online. It did not decide how it applies to people still on probation or parole, where courts have often allowed tighter conditions.
Last verified against the sources above on September 30, 2026.
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