turned to a University of Cincinnati professor to explain the First Amendment implications surrounding allegations that a social media company was suppressing content critical of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Several prominent users of TikTok alleged that the Chinese-owned social media company was suppressing videos critical of the federal agency after they had trouble uploading their commentaries in recent days. TikTok told CNN the uploading problems were caused by a power outage at a data center.
UC College of Arts and Sciences Professor Jeffrey Blevins told CNN that proving TikTok is censoring content because of political considerations would be difficult to prove because of the opaque nature of its recommendation process.
Blevins teaches political science in UC's School of Public and International Affairs.
Regardless, he said, the First Amendment paradoxically allows social media companies to censor and restrict content on their sites.
"They're a private platform. They have a First Amendment right to do that," he said. "A lot of times it's easy for us to think of social media as a public square, but it's not public in a way that matters under the law."
Featured image at top: UC Professor Jeffrey Blevins says the First Amendment does not require social media companies to post everything users submit. Photo/Andrew Higley/UC
