Free speech and social media

Reality Team
January 19, 2021

A lot of people (including Trump) got booted off social media recently. That is not a violation of the First Amendment.

TL; DR: When you check the “join” box on Twitter, you agree to follow their rules. They can kick you off if you break them. They are not the government so the First Amendment does not apply.

References

Constitution Annotated, First Amendment

Lawshelf.com, Freedom of Speech Exceptions: Categories of Speech NOT Protected.

Reuters. August 14, 2017. Factbox: When can free speech be restricted in the United States?

Washington Post. July 22, 2019. Facebook will have to pay a record-breaking fine for violating users’ privacy. But the FTC wanted more.

MIT News. March 8, 2018. Study: On Twitter, false news travels faster than true stories.

AP News. November 19, 2020. AP FACT CHECK: Trump legal team’s batch of false vote claims.

Free speech and social media

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