There’s no doubt about it, the Supreme Court’s latest rulings on Big Tech censorship were an enormous setback for the cause of free speech online. But if we squint hard enough, we can certainly find a silver lining.
First, the downside. In a separate set of rulings this week, the Supreme Court scuttled two attempts to protect citizens’ free speech on giant social media websites. In the first, Murthy v. Missouri, the court set a frustratingly higher bar for two states and several banished social media users to sue the White House and executive branch agencies for their deliberate collusion with Silicon Valley monopolies to stifle online expression.
Four days later, in the two NetChoice cases, the court gave no final judgment on the merits but vacated both conflicting lower court decisions regarding the state laws of Florida and Texas prohibiting Big Tech from…
