The Supreme Court on Monday overturned an appeals court ruling that President Donald J. Trump violated the first amendment by banning people from his Twitter account after posting critical comments.
A unanimous three-person jury from the appeals court ruled in 2019 that Mr Trump’s account was a public forum from which he could not exclude people based on their views.
The Supreme Court move was anticipated as Mr Trump is no longer President and Twitter has permanently banned his account.
More surprising was a 12-page consensus opinion from Justice Clarence Thomas, who pondered the dangerous power some private corporations have over freedom of expression.
“Today’s digital platforms offer opportunities for historically unprecedented amounts of speech, including speech from government actors,” he wrote. “But also unprecedented is the concentrated control over so much language in the hands of a few private parties. We will soon have no choice but to delve into applying our legal teachings to highly concentrated, privately owned information infrastructures such as digital platforms. “
No other judiciary followed suit, and Justice Thomas’ views on the First Amendment can be idiosyncratic. His opinion, however, reflected widespread frustration, particularly among conservatives, of letting private corporations decide what the public can read and see.
The Court of Appeal “feared that then President Trump would break off the speech by using the functions provided by Twitter,” wrote Justice Thomas. “But if the goal is to make sure the language isn’t stifled, the dominant digital platforms themselves must inevitably be the biggest concern.”
