The US Supreme Court has dismissed a lawsuit challenging government interference in social media companies. US media reported that the court decided that the states and social media users who went to court did not prove they were victims. Therefore, this matter will not be dealt with further.
The case revolved around the question of the extent to which authorities can ask social media to remove misinformation about vaccinations and election fraud.
Critics argued that there was undue government interference and that it conflicted with freedom of expression.
The government countered that communications need not be objectionable as long as companies are not subject to undue pressure.
Independent decisions
The court said in a statement that the complainants had indeed “been contacted by dozens of officials from various departments of the national government on various topics on different social media.”
Although the government was sometimes shown to have played a role in some moderate elections, social media also had reasons to intervene, and often made independent decisions about it.
The complainants were earlier ruled in their favor by the lower court, but that judgment has now lapsed. While a majority of the court agreed to dismiss the case, not all judges agreed. Conservative Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. He wrote that “senior government officials” have been pressing Facebook for months to limit Americans’ freedom of expression. He said it was unfair not to investigate the case.
