How Elon Musk Can Liberate Twitter – WSJ

Elon Musk wants Twitter to adhere to free speech principles. That s easier said than done. Porn, racial slurs and spam are all protected under the First Amendment, but few users want to see them. Even for the narrow categories of speech that aren t protected, nearly all content blocking on social media goes against the first principle of free-speech jurisprudence the ban on prior restraint, or censorship without judicial review.

The first step to solving these conundrums is to recognize that different free-speech principles apply in different contexts, and there are three key different kinds of forums. Speech protection is strongest in a public forum. If Twitter were such a forum, almost all content blocking would be an impermissible prior restraint. But Twitter isn t a public forum, most obviously because it isn t run by the government (even though its censorship is sometimes at official behest). At the other end of the spectrum is private property. If you re a visitor in someone else s home, he s free to kick you out simply for offending him.

Between these poles are limited public forums places generally open to the public where speech can be subjected to reasonable regulation. One kind of restriction, however, is forbidden: viewpoint discrimination. That s how Mr. Musk should think of Twitter.

via www.wsj.com

Correct.