The Supreme Court rules on the government pressuring websites to moderate content

As part of an on-going series, Constitution Daily looks at recent Supreme Court decisions about the evolving world of social media, and the First Amendment challenges faced by governments, media companies, and the public.

At what point does the government, in taking actions to make social media websites aware of content considered to be “misinformation,” cross a constitutional line? On June 26, 2024, the Supreme Court addressed that question in Murthy v. Missouri, a case rooted in the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 presidential election.

The plaintiffs were the states of Louisiana and Missouri, and five individuals, including three doctors, a news website publisher, and a health care activist. They pointed to a pattern of alleged free speech suppression between 2020 and 2023 linked to actions taken by dozens of federal officials from the White House, the Office of the Surgeon General, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.