Many on the progressive side of politics were afraid that the first case Judge Brett Kavanaugh would be ruling could have ramifications for Roe versus Wade, but instead it is internet censorship that stands to be affected by a newly conservative majority bench.
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case that could determine whether users can challenge social media companies on free speech grounds. That case, Manhattan Community Access Corp. v. Halleck, No. 17-702, will decide whether a private operator of a public access television network is considered a state actor which can thus be sued for First Amendment violations.
As such, it could have much broader implications for social media giants Facebook and Twitter, as well as other media outlets who have been accused of siding with liberal political views.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Supreme Court Takes Case That Could End Internet Censorship, Expand First Amendment <a href="https://t.co/Qo7VpH7ipE">https://t.co/Qo7VpH7ipE</a></p>— zerohedge (@zerohedge) <a href="https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1052742318447620096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 18, 2018</a></blockquote>
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The issue is likely to get extra attention as Republican lawmakers have increased their attacks against social media companies in recent weeks and months.
In fact, a recent national survey found that 4 in 10 Americans believe that the Silicon Valley’s social media companies favor liberal speech (versus just 1 in 10 who believes the companies favor conservative speech). Furthermore, President Donald Trump recently blasted Google for suppressing conservative speech.
In a post on Twitter, Trump wrote that "they are controlling what we can & cannot see. This is a very serious situation-will be addressed!"
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">BIAS GOOGLE? <br><br>Try to type "Trump News" on Google, Yandex, Yahoo and other search engines. Only Google gets CNN, MSNBC, ABC. <br><br>A - Is Google Bias <br>B - Left Leaning IT & News companies using $$ to boost Google Ratings<br>C - Coincidence <br>D - Other (reason) <a href="https://t.co/Cm5JRZvcw4">pic.twitter.com/Cm5JRZvcw4</a></p>— QUALITYPALISM (@BoNsterGroup) <a href="https://twitter.com/BoNsterGroup/status/1052679747728068608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 17, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Just two months ago, Facebook, YouTube, Apple and music platform Spotify colluded to remove content from right-wing conspiracy theorist and provocateur Alex Jones in a 24 hour period, accusing him of violating their terms of service.
Although Twitter CEO admitted in a recent interview that his personnel tends to ‘think more leftwing’ he called into conservative commentator Sean Hannity’s radio show more recently and adapted his viewpoint on this, stating: "We do not shadow ban according to political ideology or viewpoint or content. Period."
Related coverage: <a href="http://thegoldwater.com/news/39015-MN-Teacher-Asks-Whose-Gonna-Take-One-For-The-Team-And-Kill-Kavanaugh">Teacher Asks ‘Who’s Gonna Kill Kavanaugh?’</a>
Google, who refused to send their CEO to a recent Congressional Hearing on the issue, released a statement saying that its search feature "is not used to set a political agenda and we don't bias our results toward any political ideology."
Lastly, Facebook has been accused on multiple occasions of favoring liberal over conservative speech, although CEO Mr Mark Zuckerberg continues to claim that his is a "platform for all ideas."
Republican Senator for Texas Mr Ted Cruz asked him during a hearing earlier this year whether he really thought Facebook was a "neutral public forum," stating at the time: "there are a great many Americans who I think are deeply concerned that Facebook and other tech companies are engaged in a pervasive pattern of bias and political censorship."
With a majority of conservative voices now on the bench, it will be interesting to see how the Supreme Court with Kavanaugh will rule.
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>39700 Facebook (FB) is a publicly traded company with a Market Cap of $447.288B
You mean rockstar didnt like people making money? Im not surprised.