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Page Number: 11

8 

PACKINGHAM v. NORTH CAROLINA 

Opinion of the Court 

ent  42–43.  Specific  laws  of  that  type  must  be  the  State’s
first resort to ward off the serious harm that sexual crimes 
inflict. 
(Of  importance,  the  troubling  fact  that  the  law
imposes  severe  restrictions  on  persons  who  already  have 
served  their  sentence  and  are  no  longer  subject  to  the 
supervision  of  the  criminal  justice  system  is  also  not  an 
issue before the Court.)

Even with these assumptions about the scope of the law 
and the State’s interest, the statute here enacts a prohibi-
tion  unprecedented  in  the  scope  of  First  Amendment 
speech  it  burdens.    Social  media  allows  users  to  gain 
access  to  information  and  communicate  with  one  another 
about it on any subject that might come to mind.  Supra, 
at  5.  By  prohibiting  sex  offenders  from  using  those  web-
sites, North Carolina with one broad stroke bars access to 
what for many are the principal sources for knowing  cur-
rent  events,  checking  ads  for  employment,  speaking  and 
listening  in  the  modern  public  square,  and  otherwise
exploring  the  vast  realms  of  human  thought  and 
knowledge.  These websites can provide perhaps the most
powerful  mechanisms  available  to  a  private  citizen  to
make his or her voice heard.  They allow a person with an
Internet  connection  to  “become  a  town  crier  with  a  voice 
that  resonates  farther  than  it  could  from  any  soapbox.” 
Reno, 521 U. S., at 870. 

In sum, to foreclose access to social media altogether is 
to  prevent  the  user  from  engaging  in  the  legitimate  exer-
cise of First Amendment rights.  It is unsettling to suggest
that  only  a  limited  set  of  websites  can  be  used  even  by 
persons  who  have  completed  their  sentences.  Even  con-
victed  criminals—and  in  some  instances  especially  con-
victed  criminals—might  receive  legitimate  benefits  from 
these means for access to the world of ideas, in particular
if they seek to reform and to pursue lawful and rewarding 
lives.