The justices seem to be puzzled as why the government shouldn’t have the same access to social media platforms that anyone else does….
A few red states and others on the Right took the case to the High Court which seems on presentation to be sceptical of…
A majority of the justices appeared convinced that government officials should be able to try to persuade private companies, whether news organizations or tech platforms, not to publish information so long as the requests are not backed by coercive threats.
Justices Brett M. Kavanaugh and Elena Kagan, both former White House lawyers, said interactions between administration officials and news outlets provided a valuable analogy. Efforts by officials to influence coverage were, they said, part of a valuable dialogue that was not prohibited by the First Amendment.
Members of the court also raised questions about whether the plaintiffs — Missouri and Louisiana, along with five individuals — had suffered the kind of injury that gave them standing to sue. They also suggested that a broad injunction prohibiting contacts between many officials and the platforms was not a proper remedy in any event.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor accused the states of distorting the record in the case. “I have such a problem with your brief,” she told J. Benjamin Aguiñaga, Louisiana’s solicitor general. “You omit information that changes the context of some of your claims.”
Mr. Aguiñaga apologized “if any aspect of our brief was not as forthcoming as it should have been.”
The case was the latest in an extraordinary series of cases this term requiring the justices to assess the meaning of free speech in the internet era.
The case arose from a barrage of communications from administration officials urging platforms to take down posts on topics like the coronavirus vaccines and claims of election fraud. Last year, a federal appeals court severely limited such interactions…..
Note…
During the pandemic?
Some on the Right were shopping around comments and suggestions to the public in social media that where untrue and dangerous…
The Biden admin had went to social media networks to try to curtail information that could prove harmful to the public….
‘Freedom of Speech’ isn’t perpetuating harmful and dangerous speech…
(Trump telling people to inject/drink disinfectants/bleach )