Twitter, Musk and Why Online Speech Gets Moderated

When the World Wide Web opened for public use in 1991, its enthusiasts proclaimed a new era of unfiltered free expression. That was before the internet in general, and social media platforms in particular, proved to be such effective places to spread misinformation about important matters such as Covid-19 and vaccines, disinformation (intentional falsehoods) about politics and elections, plus all manner of conspiracy theories and hate speech. Social media platforms have faced enormous scrutiny over which content it silences, and which it amplifies. The US Supreme Court is also getting involved.

No. The First Amendment to the US Constitution prohibits censorship by government, not censorship by private companies. In fact, like newspapers, book publishers and television stations, online gathering places such as Twitter and Facebook have constitutional protections to decide what to moderate and filter. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 gives them broad protection from the kinds of liability publishers traditionally face for defamatory content, along with broad leeway to moderate discussions and remove posts or leave them alone.