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Steubenville Rape Trial Begins

Social media banned from courtroom.

There will be no Instagramming inside the juvenile court in Steubenville, Ohio, today, where the trial for two high school football players charged with raping a 16-year-old girl begins. The ban is ironic for a case that is rooted in social media—first exposed through Twitter. The two defendants in the case, Trenton Mays and Ma’lik Richmond, have been condemned by peers and strangers on social media, the majority of whom seem to think they are guilty. The case was brought to national attention partly thanks to bloggers and hackers affiliated with the group Anonymous, who claimed Steubenville officials were ignoring the case in order to protect the school's football program.