What Press Freedom Means When You Can Just Press 'Tweet'

Monday’s U.S. Supreme Court argument about whether sex offenders can be barred from social media had the justices observing that even the president uses Twitter. But the ubiquity of social media in politics is only the most superficial aspect of how new forms of publishing are challenging the First Amendment. In areas such as campaign finance and libel law, it’s a different legal ballgame than it was just a few years ago -- and the changes can be expected to multiply with time.

If you think about it, no other fundamental constitutional right is defined by the technology of a medium. The First Amendment protects freedom “of the press” -- a term that has at least two meanings. It refers literally to the physical product of the printing press -- written words as opposed to freedom of speech. And it refers to the ecosystem of newspapers and pamphlets that by the end of the 18th century was commonly referred to as “the press.”