{"id":389493,"date":"2021-04-05T15:28:20","date_gmt":"2021-04-05T19:28:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=389493"},"modified":"2021-04-05T15:28:22","modified_gmt":"2021-04-05T19:28:22","slug":"clarence-thomas-appears-to-endorse-outlawing-social-medias-censorship-of-conservatives-everything-you-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/clarence-thomas-appears-to-endorse-outlawing-social-medias-censorship-of-conservatives-everything-you-need-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"Clarence Thomas Appears To Endorse Outlawing Social Media\u2019s Censorship Of Conservatives: Everything You Need To Know"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fclarence-thomas-appears-to-endorse-outlawing-social-medias-censorship-of-conservatives-everything-you-need-to-know%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=389493&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fb_image-306.jpeg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p><span>On Monday, legendary conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas appeared to argue that social media companies like Facebook and Twitter should no longer be able to hide behind protections like the First Amendment and Section 230 in their bid to regulate certain forms of speech on their platforms.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Here is a breakdown of what Thomas <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/clarence-thomas-hints-that-congress-could-strip-social-media-giants-of-first-amendment-protections-comparing-them-to-public-accommodations\"><span>wrote<\/span><\/a><span>, and what it could mean for Big Tech giants in the context of political speech and online censorship.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Common carriers and public accommodations<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cEven if digital platforms are not close enough to common carriers, legislatures might still be able to treat digital platforms like places of public accommodation. Although definitions between jurisdictions vary, a company ordinarily is a place of public accommodation if it provides \u2018lodging, food, entertainment, or other services to the public \u2026 in general,\u2019\u201d Thomas wrote, adding that \u201cTwitter and other digital platforms bear resemblance to that definition.\u201d&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In simple terms, a public accommodation offers goods and services to the general public.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Thomas then directly hinted that legislators would have the legal authority to prevent social media platforms from effectively censoring speech by comparing these companies to common carriers and public accommodations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThe similarities between some digital platforms and common carriers or places of public accommodation may give legislators strong arguments for similarly regulating digital platforms. \u2018[I]t stands to reason that if Congress may demand that telephone companies operate as common carriers, it can ask the same of\u2019 digital platforms,\u201d he wrote.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Section 230<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span>As described by The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/understanding-section-230-everything-you-need-to-know\">Daily Wire<\/a>, \u201cSection 230 was passed into law as part of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 and legislates Internet content. Written in the earlier days of the web, Section 230 now finds itself at the center of an ongoing debate between those who believe it should be repealed, those who believe it should be modified, and those who believe it should be left unchanged.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cSection 230 is part of the Communications Decency Act, passed into law in 1996, which was written to regulate online pornography. In broad terms, Section 230 provides website publishers with immunity from prosecution regarding third-party content placed on their site,\u201d The Daily Wire continued.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Thomas noted that Section 230 has been used to give social media companies \u201cimmunity\u201d for \u201cbad-faith\u201d actions in the form of removed content.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThreats directed at digital platforms can be especially problematic in the light of [Section 230], which some courts have misconstrued to give digital platforms immunity for bad-faith removal of third-party content,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cThis immunity eliminates the biggest deterrent \u2014 a private lawsuit \u2014 against caving to an unconstitutional government threat.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Conclusion<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span>With his comments, Thomas is hinting at two fundamental arguments that could be pivotal elements of the legislative strategy for hindering Big Tech\u2019s efforts to suppress conservative speech online.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Firstly, the argument that companies like Twitter are \u201cpublic accommodations\u201d would provide legislators with effective tools to regulate their control of content \u2014 for better or for worse.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Secondly, the explicit judicial acknowledgement that Section 230 is being leveraged by social media companies to provide \u201cimmunity\u201d for their \u201cbad-faith\u201d removal of third-party content provides a further indication that the alteration of Section 230 is a possibility in the near future.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Whether these changes result in positive or negative change in the area of online speech, Clarence Thomas\u2019 comments have made it clear that \u2014 at least in his view \u2014 such changes could soon become a legislative reality.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span>Ian Haworth is an Editor and Writer for The Daily Wire. Follow him on Twitter at <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ighaworth\"><i><span>@ighaworth<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span>The views expressed in this piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><i><span>member<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Monday, legendary conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas appeared to argue that social media companies like Facebook and Twitter should no longer be able to hide behind protections like &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2311686,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fb_image-306.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"Clarence Thomas Appears To Endorse Outlawing Social Media\u2019s Censorship Of Conservatives: Everything You Need To Know","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-389493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fb_image-306.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"Clarence Thomas Appears To Endorse Outlawing Social Media\u2019s Censorship Of Conservatives: Everything You Need To Know","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2311686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}