Are social media companies more like newspapers or phone companies? This oft-debated question in social media legal circles, while seemingly trivial on the surface, represents a momentous debate over whether—and how much—social media companies should be allowed to moderate user-generated content on their platforms. If social media companies are more like newspapers, they have the right to censor, tailor or remove content as they see fit, similar to how an editor at a publication has the right to choose which stories make the headlines. On the other hand, if social media companies are more like phone companies, then the government has more freedom to limit the companies’ editorial powers, ensuring that they serve merely as a conduit for their users to express themselves freely.
