First Amendment is alive and well

If I read one more letter to the editor claiming that social media’s squelching of the former president’s (in my opinion) lies, fraud, bogus conspiracy theories and downright dangerous posts are somehow signaling the death knell of the First Amendment, I am going to scream. The First Amendment applies, by its face and by relevant case decisions, to governmental agencies. The Supreme Court has also held that the First Amendment does not allow speech that incites imminent lawless action.

More to the point, anyone who would take the time to actually read the First Amendment can see it begins, “Congress shall make no law…” Facebook is not a government agency. Nor are Instagram, Twitter, nor most of the other seemingly billions of social media sites. They can, and do, set their policies for what may be posted. As long as those policies do not run afoul of some important civil rights (say, banning people because of their race or some other class protected by law), they have fairly wide latitude in how to set those rules. They could, for example, ban off-color language, nudity, etc. Conservative viewpoints are not protected discrimination classes, just as liberal views, false claims and nutjob conspiracy theories are not.

So, before we begin mourning the death of the First Amendment, you might want to read it. Its medical charts would show it’s not only not dying, it’s not even sick.

Tom Pacher

Whidbey Island