Freethought Discussion: Government & Social Media

Moderator: Alan E. Johnson

Government and Social Media

What is the proper role of government with respect to social media?

•  Should government prohibit children under a certain age from opening social media accounts?

• Should government persuade or compel social media companies to remove information on their sites containing dangerous misinformation or disinformation, e.g., false conspiracy theories about vaccines?
• Should government prohibit social media companies from removing information on their sites containing dangerous misinformation or disinformation, e.g., false conspiracy theories about vaccines?
• Should government prohibit social media companies from “censoring” political viewpoints with which those companies disagree?
• Under what circumstances, if any, should public officials be permitted to block critics of their policies on the officials’ personal social media pages?
• What, if anything, should government do about TikTok?

References (not required reading):

• Brendan Farrington, “Florida’s DeSantis signs one of the country’s most restrictive social media bans for minors,” AP, March 25, 2024, https://apnews.com/article/florida-social-media-ban-desantis-fd07f61e167bd9109a83cd7355b5f164; David French, “Florida Has Banned Kids Using Social Media, but It Won’t Be That Simple,” New York Times, March 28, 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/28/opinion/social-media-government-jonathan-haidt.html?unlocked_article_code=1.gU0.mT-p.dNkGLrXhSdTf&smid=url-share (in accordance with my New York Times subscription, the foregoing link provides access to this article for 30 days without charge, notwithstanding the usual New York Times paywall).

• Mark Sherman, “Supreme Court seems favorable to Biden administration over efforts to combat social media posts,” AP, March 18, 2024, https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-biden-administration-social-media-132df16a8b086cd7ed72954f3b4c2c04. For details, see the transcript of the March 18, 2024 oral argument in the U.S. Supreme Court in Murthy v. Missouri, https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/2023/23-411_o759.pdf.

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