Did The FBI Violate The First Amendment When It Colluded With Twitter?

DAILYCALLER.COM ^ | 12/23/2022 | ALEXA SCHWERHA

[bitt]

The FBI may have violated the First Amendment rights of Twitter users when it flagged accounts for the social media platform to review, several legal experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Twitter became an “agent of the government” when it worked with the FBI to silence specific accounts at the agency’s request, Hans von Spakovsky, manager of the Heritage Foundation’s Election Law Reform Initiative and a senior legal fellow, told the DCNF.

Ari Cohn, free speech counsel at TechFreedom, told the DCNF that while the findings of the Twitter Files were “interesting,” he doesn’t believe there are “many legal conclusions to draw from it.”

~~~~~~~

The FBI has repeatedly flagged Twitter accounts for the social media platform to review and censor over the last few years, raising questions as to whether the agency violated the First Amendment rights of Twitter users, legal experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The Twitter Files, a series of revelations by several journalists based on internal Twitter communications, revealed that FBI agents colluded with Twitter executives to censor users and suppress information, while the agency paid Twitter $3.5 million to compensate them for their time processing the FBI’s requests. This partnership raises questions as to whether the FBI may have violated user’s constitutional rights, legal experts told the DCNF, with some arguing the agency’s involvement in Twitter censorship constitutes a First Amendment violation. (RELATED: ‘Attempting To Discredit The Agency’: FBI Responds To ‘Twitter Files’)

Aaron Terr, director of public advocacy at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), told the DCNF that users deserve to know the extent of how the government communicated with Twitter and that it could raise possible “First Amendment issues, although it could be tricky to prove.”

[Rlsau1]

You are so right. The Federal Government, our elected representatives in both Congress and the White House give a rat’s ass about what is and isn’t Constitutional. Worse still, the Judicial Branch whose sole job is to uphold the Constitution and see that others do as well just makes up what they think is palatable to their supporters. Our Constitution is only valid when it suits our overlords. In other words, it is used exclusively to control the proletariat.

[Bonemaker]

Just ask Hanutty about his Bureau buds.

[bankwalker]

probably not ... I think the 1st amendment restricts congress from making laws about religion ... but they probably violated some election laws ...