On February 26, the Ninth Circuit effectively held that any challenges to a digital platform’s censorship or ad-blocking on First Amendment grounds will fail. In a unanimous opinion, the court found that YouTube is not a public forum or government actor. PragerU argued that the expansive reach of the internet and selective censorship qualified YouTube as a moderator of an effective town square, subject to First Amendment scrutiny. The court rejected this argument to find that online platforms do not require First Amendment protections, claiming that the new digital age has not changed legal principles. Read more here.
Members of the News/Media Alliance staff have contributed to this post.
