Posted on 04/05/2021 2:04:00 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
KEY POINTS
The Supreme Court erased a federal appeals court decision holding that former President Trump violated the Constitution by blocking his critics on Twitter.
The justices vacated the decision from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and sent it back to the lower court with instructions to dismiss the case as “moot,” or no longer active, now that Trump is a private citizen.
The action means the lower court’s decision will no longer bind future judges.
The announcement came in an order list and without a written explanation of the court’s reasoning. There were no noted dissents.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
Thanks.
My opinion, loosely informed by what limited information I have accumulated about anti-trust and other law, is that once these platforms reach a certain level of ubiquity, they need to be regulated as utilities.
You are right they can’t have it both ways. They can’t both be protected from suit over offensive/libelous speech while simultaneously editorializing, censoring, flagging or otherwise suppressing speech by limiting its reach.
There is ample precedent to break them up in particular Paramount Studios case which forced the movie studios to divest from movie theater ownership; Standard Oil which broke the oil giant into a half dozen or so competing entities; and of course the case of Microsoft over their built in browser. All these cases the corporations lost.
What we have now is worse than a form of Keiretsu, the Japanese business practice where a bunch of separate entities create an affiliation to protect each others’ interests. Thus, any competition for Twitter is blocked by Apple and Google. And it’s reciprocal. Banned by one, banned by all. It has to stop.
Bottom line, if you come over for dinner and we talk politics, they can’t shut off my phones, electricity, water and gas because they don’t like what we spoke about. Should be the same with these large platforms that have such critical mass and behave in a predatory fashion that makes free market competition next to impossible.
Gotcha. Thanks. I’ll look for it and particularly his written opinion assuming it is a separate opinion.
Yes. It is only Justice Thomas. He was concurring that the case is moot. He then uses both hands to drown big tech. Priceless.
So is he begging for someone to bring a suit?
That or opening the door for the states to regulate the hell out of public censorship on Twitter and all platforms like them.
Who is this Trump person they’re talking about?
How convenient that it applies to nobody except President Trump.
I believe you are correct.
This issue is going right back to court pretty much immediately then, because elected Democrats are about to get sued over the same blocking practice.
El Naranja was sent away for mean tweets and honestly working from dark to midnight for the USA
Joseph Stolen talks to empty gardens, using politburo words in lies beyond measure
Justice delayed is justice denied.
Because it’s ok when Biden does it
Except the courts will say that nobody has standing.😖
Yet Twitter can block Trump?
That’s different, he’s a Republican. Geez.
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