that could upend the federal government’s relationship with social media companies and with lies online. Plaintiffs in Murthy v Missouri argue that White House requests to take down coronavirus misinformation on Twitter and Facebook constitute illegal censorship in violation the first amendment.
“When the government persuades a private party not to distribute or promote someone else’s speech, that’s not censorship, that’s persuading a private party to do something that they’re lawfully entitled to do,” Fletcher said. “The government can encourage parents to monitor their children’s cellphone usage or internet companies to watch out for child pornography on their platforms, even if the fourth amendment would prevent the government from doing that directly,” Fletcher said.
“The government has no right to persuade platforms to violate Americans’ constitutional rights, and pressuring platforms in backrooms shielded from public view is not using the bully pulpit at all,” Aguiñaga said in an opening statement. “That’s just being a bully.”