Supreme Court Upholds Biden Administration's Authority to Demand Removal of Certain Online Content
6-3 Ruling on Biden's Misinfo Stand Against Social Media
In a casual, informal chat, let's talk about the recent Supreme Court ruling on the Biden admin's push for social media giants to squash misinformation. You might've heard about Murthy v. Missouri, a case that caused quite a stir.
This badass, 6-3 decision was all about the Biden administration's involvement in kicking widespread misinformation off platforms like Meta, Twitter, and YouTube. The Missouri and Louisiana attorneys general cried foul, claiming the First Amendment was violated when the administration urged these social media titans to yank posts game-planning about COVID-19. The majority decision, penned by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, stated the states just couldn't slap an injunction on the administration and they fell short in proving social media companies were on board 'cause the admin put the screws to 'em politically. Barrett was joined by Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, Kavanaugh, and Jackson, while Justices Alito, Thomas, and Gorsuch went the other way.
Tracing the controversy back, you'll find its roots in a Missouri v. Biden situation dating back to May 2022. Social media folk claimed their posts getting booted was a violation of their freedom of speech, and they pegged the Biden administration as guilty of colluding with Big Tech. Louisiana jumped on board, and a judge handed down an order in July 2023, blocking U.S. officials from contacting social media companies.
Things escalated when Murthy v. Missouri linked up with the Twitter Files, a messy situation unfolding after Elon Musk started investigating Twitter's inner workings. Ex-journalist Matt Taibbi and a gang of buddies prowled through Twitter staff emails, revealing the Biden administration had pointed out posts that violated the platform rules, but spreading misinformation about vaccines and the election, to the social media companies. A bunch of Republicans, from the state to federal level, picked up the torch and took this circus into outer space. The House of Representatives held a hearing in 2023, with GOP members accusing the Biden administration of conspiring with Big Tech to mute Americans.
Case closed, as the verdict dropped just in time for the upcoming elections. Still, if you're itching to spread dodgy info, Elon Musk's X, ahem, SpaceX, remains the place to go to spit out some outlandish, hopefully entertaining bullshit.
- Tech giants like Meta, Twitter, and YouTube might feel the heat of the Biden administration's efforts to combat misinformation on their platforms, following the 6-3 Supreme Court ruling in the case of Murthy v. Missouri.
- The future of tech regulation, particularly regarding the suppression of misinformation, could be influenced by this landmark decision that took place in 2022.
- The press and social media users were abuzz with discussions of the implications of this ruling on freedom of speech, government intervention in tech, and the responsibility of tech companies in combating misinformation.
- As the 2022 elections approach, concerns about misinformation on social media and its potential impact on the democratic process remain high, with the Twitter Files revealing the complex relationship between the Biden administration, tech companies, and the spread of misinformation online.
