What a time to be alive, this early January. And that’s whether you are a free speech advocate – or a force trying to stifle the very same thing.
The battle is now being fought feverishly on many fronts – in the US, in Europe, in regulatory, media, and political spaces.
But in the US, some outstanding legal cases, like the children’s health advocacy group Children’s Health Defense (CHD) lawsuit now reviewed by the Supreme Court – that has government-Big Tech collusion as its core – now have now to all intents and purposes received a boost.
We obtained a copy of the petition for you here.
It is the light of Meta (Facebook, Instagram…) announcing that the giant’s platforms are abandoning a “fact-checking” program.
“Fact-checking” here was too often no more than a euphemism for speech suppression – hence, many believe, this is now Meta’s easy and obvious attempt to now distance itself from such policies.
But what does that mean for Children’s Health Defense v. Meta Platforms, Inc. case, first brought by CHD in 2020 – only to escalate to the group’s deplatforming two years later?
The non-profit has now announced that less than a day after it turned to the US Supreme Court this week to try to end censorship of its online presence on Meta’s platforms – Meta announced it was done with “fact-checkers.”
The question becomes, should that not translate to Meta – if its announced new policy is to be trusted – into allowing CHD back by way of reinstating CHD accounts on Facebook and Instagram?
The original lawsuit CHD filed against Meta had to do with censorship of what now seems like a distant crisis – Covid, related vaccines, and ways that online speech was restricted.
But, if it remains a legitimate method for government-social media companies’ collusion – it could prove to be the blueprint for future disaster.
“Zuckerberg may imagine that by making this announcement (regarding fact-checkers) he is mooting this case, or making it no longer significant,” CHD CEO Mary Holland has said, adding, to warn:
“That’s not the situation – the country needs closure that this kind of fusion of state and industry to censor unwanted information will never happen again.”
For Meta to easily prove its commitment to the newly announced policy, reinstating CHD’s accounts would be a very welcome first step, the non-profit suggests.
