The U.S. Supreme Court will be back in the spotlight again in a couple of weeks, hearing two cases that could ultimately change free speech on the internet.
"It could be the year that Big Tech companies lose some of the protections that essentially allow them to be the arbiters of on-line speech, with very few legal consequences" said Grady Trimble, a reporter with FOX News, "Two cases before the high court challenge Section 230, that's the law that shields social media companies from getting sued over 3rd party content on their sites."
Both sides of the arguments have issues, and both sides want changes. But Big Tech is finally going to be taken to task, for allowing some content that has aided terrorists, while continuing to censor truth and conservatives.
"The Supreme Court needs to balance the problems between personal privacy and incitement to violence, but also let market places operate, which many of the social media platforms have not really done" said DePauw University media professor, Jeff McCall, "And the Supreme Court might have to tell them what that transparency will look like, and what the rules and regulations will be."
Big Tech has been protected for more than two decades, but that could change after what is presented in a couple of weeks.
"At the Media Research Center, we just hit our 5,000th case on censortrack.org, of documented cases of censorship, and that's across the Big Tech sphere" said Michael Morris, CEO with the MRC, "So, what we hope to see is, we actually want to see some action and I think that may well be in hand this time around."
What will be the bounds of free expression on the internet? And will Big Tech be the next Big Tobacco?
Photo: Getty Images