Supreme Court Avoids Key Free Speech Question in Social Media Cases

tech.hindustantimes.com:

There are several major social media cases facing the US Supreme Court this term, all having to do with the First Amendment. The decisions the court issues will effectively create a new legal regime where none existed before. The first major issue, on the constitutionality of public officials blocking other users, shows how hard this is going to be for justices who have not yet fully understood how the architecture of social media platforms can change society.

The first set of cases, O'Connor-Ratcliff v. Garnier and Lindke v. Freed, involves the question of whether a public official using social media can block a user without violating the user's First Amendment rights. The oral argument found the justices puzzling over a question that arises in every constitutional case: whether the government has actually taken an action that is covered by some provision of the founding document.

The First Amendment only protects individuals against what the government does to them, not against conduct from private citizens. So if a public official's social media account is deemed private by the courts, being blocked by that official cuts no First Amendment ice. If the account is in some way a manifestation of the government, then you might be able to claim that the government blocked you, thereby violating your right to free speech.

You can probably imagine the different possible answers to this question. One approach would ask whether the public official is doing their job when using the social media account. Another would ask whether a reasonable person would think that the account (or maybe the act of blocking) was done by the government. Yet another variant would consider whether the account belonged to the official before they took