EFF to Ninth Circuit: Social Media Content Moderation is Not "State Action"

Former EFF intern Shashank Sirivolu contributed to this blog post.  

Social media users who have sued companies for deleting, demonetizing, and otherwise moderating their content have tried several arguments that this violates their constitutional rights. Courts have consistently ruled against them because social media platforms themselves have the First Amendment right to moderate content. The government and the courts cannot tell them what speech they must remove or, on the flip side, what speech they must carry. And when the …

action content moderation eff free speech media moderation social social media state