Was it the case that the government unlawfully pressured private enterprises to block material that went against its political views on the internet? Was there any improper use of authority to further its agenda?
Looking back, it’s clear that both questions have a definitive “yes” response. Considering the state of knowledge about the virus and the consensus on how to stop the pandemic, it is a much more difficult case to make.
“There’s always a line-drawing difficulty,” stated Michael Glennon, a law professor at Tufts University. “Sometimes, you just have to decide when enough is enough, and that’s not easy.”
The concept of “line drawing” is contentious in First Amendment law. In the end, social media businesses are just private companies. It is difficult to imagine the court disagreeing with the authority to censor someone for any reason.
However, the US government was pressuring social media firms to hide comments in an effort to combat “misinformation.” Many of the eventually-censored pieces of content were really quite useful and factual, as the Supreme Court will hear.
Publication on Wall Street:
“This case revolves around a lawsuit that the Republican attorneys general of Louisiana and Missouri filed in 2022. The lawsuit claims that the federal government censored content under the pretense of fighting disinformation. Monday is the planned day for arguments in this case.
“The states stated in their statement to the top court that the defendants’ actions “fundamentally change online debate” and “make entire opinions on significant social and political matters essentially unthinkable on social media, the new public square.”
The left sees as contributing to the issue any effort to obstruct those seeking to remove “disinformation” from the internet.
An “expert” in identifying “misinformation,” Kate Starbird of the University of Washington, stated, “The folks that gain from the transmission of disinformation have essentially silenced many of the others that would try to call them out.”
That is completely and totally absurd. Those on the political left who denounce what they perceive as “disinformation” have never been “silenced.” Have they faced backlash for allegedly seeking to limit free speech and debate? Sure thing.
I get the creeps at the thought of the government “moderating” online discourse. We may all think for ourselves if someone wants to say that the COVID-19 pandemic was an official effort to keep the population under control. It is unnecessary for the government to inform us of its veracity.
This is due to the fact that many of the false and alternative perspectives that the government ultimately pushed social media firms to remove were really very correct.
