The court overturned an injunction that would have limited contacts between government officials and social media companies on a wide range of issues.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday threw out claims that the Biden administration unlawfully coerced social media companies into removing contentious content.
In reaching its conclusion, the court overturned an injunction that would have limited contacts between government officials and social media companies on a wide range of issues if allowed to go into effect. The Supreme Court had previously put the injunction on hold.
The court on a 6-3 vote found that plaintiffs did not have standing to sue.
From what I can tell this isn’t about actually forcing actions about misinformation, it’s contacting the platforms. Not allowing the government to say “Hey, Facebook, this misinformation looks like it could make an ongoing public health issue worse.” is a boon to misinformation peddlers. Of course Facebook should have every right to say “lol, that’s how we make the big bucks” and do nothing, but that communication should be possible and regular.
The state saying “you know you really should do something about this” is inherently coercive.
For individuals, particularly those without piles of cash, you’re probably right.
For large corporations and the owner class, though? Eh, that’s not so true. Being able to fund an army of lawyers means knowing exactly when you can tell the government to get fucked and being able to fight about it if the government wants to.
The tiktok legislation might have them sweating in a case like this.
Exactly. Some politicians basically admitted that the tiktok ban is actually about suppressing criticism of Israel.
I think bi-partisan challenging of opinion pieces containing verifiable falsehoods is a pretty healthy idea for the public.