Google long touted the need for factual accuracy on its platforms, but a letter submitted to Congress this week demonstrates how the tech company is shifting to prioritize "free expression."
Google new stance comes after touting the need for features that helped users find accurate information as far back as 2016. https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2025/09/26/how-google-abandoned-facts-for-free-expression.html
Cue the libs arguing that free expression is a bad thing.
Sigh. Shouting fire in a crowded theater is not protected speech except for certain exceptions (ie there actually was a fire, or you thought there was a fire), and it’s a crime regardless what harm was or wasn’t done (probably a misdemeanor if no harm). But it isn’t really an apt analogy here, you’re right.
Misinformation is protected speech under the first amendment, with exceptions for things like defamation, fraud, and false alarms. But the first amendment does not apply to private companies.
In 2024 SCOTUS decided that the government cannot pressure social media platforms to remove or suppress protected speech. Platforms are free to set their own community guidelines and restrictions on misinformation. I think you’re familiar with how those work.
By the current, conservative-skewing SCOTUS’ line of reasoning, Facebook can suppress content, but the FCC cannot. Facebook users are free to shift to Truth Social and Jimmy Kimmel does not have to start a YouTube channel, and Fox News which is, as you pointed out, an entertainment network and not a news network, can say whatever it wants.
Once again this is not legal advice