WASHINGTON—Today, NetChoice submitted its comment for the Federal Trade Commission’s “Request for Information Regarding Technology Platform Censorship.”
While NetChoice is very supportive of efforts to expose and end government censorship online, we caution the FTC to respect the protected First Amendment rights of Americans and our businesses, and to ensure any actions do not run “directly into the big, beautiful wall of Loper Bright.”
“NetChoice urges the FTC to take seriously the regulatory humility demanded of them by the recent Supreme Court ruling in Loper Bright. The First Amendment guarantees the editorial rights of our member companies, and the Commission cannot reimagine its consumer protection and antitrust roles to undermine constitutional protections,” said Zach Lilly, NetChoice Deputy Director of State & Federal Affairs. “Such efforts would constitute unconstitutional interference in private speech.”
Lilly continued: “The Commission could act to censor private platforms by reinterpreting its consumer protection and antitrust authorities. In the process, it would gravely misunderstand not only its own statutory role but the very nature of censorship itself. The First Amendment protects Americans from government interference in speech. NetChoice fears that, should the Commission take this misguided path, it will find itself unconstitutionally behaving as the nation’s Speech Police.”
Read NetChoice’s comment here.
Please contact press@netchoice.org with inquiries.