An Important Civics Lesson

 “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” – The First Amendment to the United States Constitution

In the wake of Donald Trump’s efforts to erode voter confidence in the presidential election by repeatedly spreading false and unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud—despite the Secretaries of State of all 50 of the United States certifying the election following multiple audits, court cases, and recounts that proved beyond a shadow of doubt that no concerted widespread voter fraud occurred whatsoever—various social media platforms have suspended the president’s accounts.

 

The president incited his rabid followers to violence when he commanded them at the “Save America Rally” to march down to the Capitol to send a message to members of Congress not to certify the election. Trump said, “And we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them. Because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show your strength and be strong… Our country has had enough. We’re not going to take it anymore.” Moments earlier, the president’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani, called for “trial by combat” while Donald Trump, Jr. warned Congressional leaders, “We are coming for you.”

And come for them they did.

In the wake of the violent attack on the Capitol, where five people including a Capitol police officer died, Trump continued to baselessly and recklessly claim on Twitter that the election was stolen—further inciting his followers to refuse to accept the fact that Joe Biden was the legitimate winner of the most scrutinized election in history. Twitter followed Facebook’s lead and suspended Trump’s account due to the high likelihood that his continued lies would lead to more violence.

Trump followers cried “censorship” and accused Big Tech of stifling conservative voices. They claim that suspending the president’s accounts (and the accounts of others who have spread misinformation and/or called for violence) is a violation of the First Amendment right to free speech. They couldn’t be more wrong.

Look again at the text of the First Amendment. “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech.” The First Amendment prohibits the government from passing laws to inhibit free speech. This prohibition simply does not apply to the private sector. Twitter is in no way obligated to provide a platform for people to spread blatant lies and calls to violence.

Neither is the Boone County Journal, Fox News, or any other media outlet. For example, it is ludicrous to believe that Gene Rhorer is obligated by the First Amendment to print every column I write. He and I both understand that my inclusion in this paper each week is solely at his discretion, and if I were to cross a line that offends his sensibilities as a publisher or as a citizen, Gene may choose not to print my column. I would probably be upset, but I would not be so ridiculous as to claim that my rights were being violated.

When the right-wing social media site Parler was shut down by Amazon’s web hosting service and suspended by Apple and Google for refusing to moderate posts that included explicit calls to violence, Trump followers again claimed their rights were being violated. To be clear, tech companies are not the government. They are not required to let every violent extremist use their services to spread their messages of hate. It is a business decision for these tech companies to suspend accounts and sites that promote violence, and no matter how upset it makes right-wing conspiracy theorists, it is not a violation of the First Amendment because it is not government-sponsored censorship.

I find it ironic and disappointing that many Constitution-loving “patriots” are so unfamiliar with the very first, and most important, amendment to that great document. Perhaps these people are getting ahead of themselves when they vociferously defend the Second Amendment without bothering to understand the First.

At any rate, despite Trump’s efforts to undermine the Constitutional process of certifying the presidential election by spreading lies and inciting a riot, the inescapable truth is that after winning by more than seven million popular votes and by a margin of 74 electoral votes, Joe Biden will be sworn in as the next President of the United States on January 20.