::Edit::
I’m being rate limited due to getting flagged and downvoted so I’ll reply here:
The EFF link keeps calling it a 1st amendment right, but doesn’t actually explain how it’s falls under the first amendment.
The ACLU does much the same thing, tho, they do say it pertains to “information gathering” which still feels like a stretch.
They both also appear to be very clear that it’s about recording police, vs private citizens. Which again, is confusing bec the first amendment doesn’t mention public vs private. I’m not saying it’s not protected, I’m just saying it’s not clear to me how it pertains in anyway to the first amendment.
Regardless of whether it’s protected though, it’s still not retaliation or even illegal to for someone to try to protect their family from an internet mob
The public's right to record the police is well established under the First Amendment[1][2]. The Verge doesn't substantiate it because, well, it's conventional wisdom.
[1]: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/06/you-have-first-amendme...
[2]: https://www.aclu.org/blog/free-speech/right-record-police-do...
The EFF link itself links to:
https://www.eff.org/document/eff-amicus-brief-martin-v-rolli...
Among many others, which contain a rabbit-trail of case law to explore.
The ACLU article links directly to:
https://www.aclum.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/20...
Which is a court ruling that appears to be directly relevant to the questions you're asking, and contains a similar rabbit trail of other case law (one "Glik v. Cunniffe, 655 F.3d 78 (1st Cir. 2011)", in particular, is repeatedly cited).
This is what one encounters pretty much any time one asks "why is/isn't [thing] constitutional under [amendment]"? Lots of reading.
The short answer is just, "courts have ruled it so".
"""Federal courts and the Justice Department have recognized the right of individuals to record the police. Although the Supreme Court has not squarely ruled on the issue, there is a long line of First Amendment case law from the high court that supports the right to record the police. And federal appellate courts in the First, Third, Fifth, Seventh, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits have directly upheld this right"""
They go into more detail in one of the amicus briefs that they link to in the text that I was quoting [0].
0: https://www.eff.org/document/eff-amicus-brief-martin-v-rolli...
