The modern public square is private.
That paradox is the lesson handed down by the Supreme Court in NetChoice v. Paxton and Moody v. NetChoice, two cases in which the world’s largest social media empires challenged state laws in Texas and Florida that curtailed their practice of online content moderation.
Just a few terms ago, the court observed that “social-media platforms have become the modern public square.” But on Monday, at least five justices opined that the platforms’ central content features—for example, YouTube’s homepage or Facebook’s newsfeed—are a “distinctive expressive product.”
Thus, under the majority’s interpretation of the First Amendment, laws that protect access to those popular speech forums are likely unconstitutional because they detract from the companies’ prerogative of absolute private control.
The court’s…
