Blog Post #4 - The First Amendment

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All aspects of the First Amendment are equally important when it comes to personal expression and the ability to communicate ideas and opinions, but the one that comes to mind first for most people is freedom of speech. This aspect is especially relevant in our society today, with discussions over censorship often at the center of elections and other important decisions. With Donald Trump having been recently banned from the most popular social media platforms for two years, the debate has only intensified. One important thing to note about freedom of speech, however, is the complexity of its protection under certain federal and state laws, as well as smaller policies put in place by private businesses and organizations. For example, while freedom of speech is protected on an individual basis by the First Amendment, private businesses can still regulate what they want to. This means that Facebook, being a private company independent of the government, is not acting unconstitutionally when it censors posts and bans users. While the company may be actively working against the Eight Values of Free Expression, it isn’t in violation of the First Amendment. 

This is an important concept to recognize within this debate. While freedom of speech is a crucial aspect of open discussion and problem solving, should a private company decide to restrict it, it is within their rights and abilities. A public school or university has no right to tell students what they can and can’t say, but a private school does, and a private media distribution company or news station can refuse to broadcast opinions they disagree with, and so on. This may make it difficult to access certain information and opinions, especially if the company restricting them has the sort of widespread reach that Facebook does, but it is absolutely within their right to do so.


https://www.carnegielibrary.org/the-first-amendment-and-censorship/#:~:text=This%20means%20that%3A,broadcast%20opinions%20it%20disagrees%20with. 


https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/04/facebook-says-donald-trump-to-remain-banned-from-platform-for-2-years-effective-from-jan-7.html 

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