In two recently filed lawsuits conservative organizations have complained that Google has restricted their access to readers. Gab, which provides its own site for conservative and alt right voices, complained when Google refused to include Gab’s app in its app store. Per Gab, Google’s true reason for this was to stymie Gab’s competition with Google’s business partner Twitter, violating the antitrust laws. Prager University complained that Google and YouTube unlawfully censored its educational videos by restricting their availability to younger viewers. Prager asserts that its videos are fully appropriate for younger viewers and that Google/YouTube’s real objection is to their admittedly conservative point of view. PragerU’s counsel, former California governor Pete Wilson, asserts that this “is speech discrimination plain and simple, censorship based entirely on unspecified ideological objection to the message or on the perceived identity and political viewpoint of the speaker” and thus violates both the First Amendment and California law.
At the same time Google and Facebook assert they are free to run their private businesses as they deem appropriate. They also face intensive pressure from American politicians and foreign governments to moderate their platforms. Facebook and Google were called before a committee of the House of Representatives, which assailed them for doing too little about “fake news” on their sites. In Germany, Facebook was recently compelled to remove a post critical of Islamic migrants.
This Teleforum will consider the obligations, if any, that American law, including the antitrust laws and the First Amendment, place on popular social media outlets. It will consider whether they can, or can be required to, restrict online content that some deem objectionable.

Featuring:

Prof. Thomas C. Arthur, L. Q. C. Lamar Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law

Prof. Eric Goldman, Professor of Law, Santa Clara University School of Law, Co-Director, High Tech Law Institute & Supervisor, Privacy Law Certificate


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