Republicans have been understandably irate about content moderation decisions made by some social media platforms. Some complain that social media is not respecting their free speech rights, although the First Amendment prohibits government from forcing social media to carry speech they don’t want to carry. Now, Justice Clarence Thomas has aired his own views on First Amendment protections and mused about treating social media as “common carriers” and “public accommodations.”
Some conservatives see Thomas’ words as a recipe to stop social media platforms from moderating user posts on their services. I share conservative concerns about political bias, but let’s examine what Justice Thomas actually said and then consider what a nondiscrimination mandate would really mean for conservatives.
Read Sen. Rick Santorum’s full article in RealClear Politics here.