Can the FTC Stop Big Tech Censorship?
The Federal Trade Commission is requesting public comments on “technology platform censorship,” a long-standing gripe for conservatives who believe social media companies have been censoring them and their ideas. To date, courts have rejected cases alleging censorship by the so-called Big Tech platforms on grounds that the plaintiffs failed to show “state action” on the part of government agents.
But ever since the Twitter files were released in late 2022 and early 2023, Congress, the courts, and the executive branch have all been forced to grapple with how social media companies may have been pressured or cajoled by government officials to censor disfavored individuals and ideas. The FTC’s inquiry suggests that it is looking for legal ways to address this alleged censorship.
The FTC is, for now, just seeking to gather more information on the scope and scale of the alleged censorship. While it is good to know more about pressure campaigns from government officials in particular, the request also aims to know more about how technology platforms “censor” users on their own.