Case: 21-51178
Document: 00516474571
Page: 37
Date Filed: 09/16/2022
No. 21-51178
editorial employees” generally includes “determin[ing] the news value of
items received” and taking responsibility for the accuracy of the items
transmitted. Associated Press v. NLRB, 301 U.S. 103, 127 (1937). And editorial
discretion generally comes with concomitant legal responsibility. For
example, because of “a newspaper’s editorial judgments in connection with
an advertisement,” it may be held liable “when with actual malice it
publishes a falsely defamatory” statement in an ad. Pittsburgh Press Co. v.
Pittsburgh Comm’n on Human Rels., 413 U.S. 376, 386 (1973). But the
Platforms strenuously disclaim any reputational or legal responsibility for the
content they host. See supra Part III.C.2.a (quoting the Platforms’ adamant
protestations that they have no responsibility for the speech they host); infra
Part III.D (discussing the Platforms’ representations pertaining to 47 U.S.C.
§ 230).
Second, editorial discretion involves “selection and presentation” of
content before that content is hosted, published, or disseminated. See Ark.
Educ. Television Comm’n v. Forbes, 523 U.S. 666, 674 (1998); see also Miami
Herald, 418 U.S. at 258 (a newspaper exercises editorial discretion when
selecting the “choice of material” to print). The Platforms do not choose or
select material before transmitting it: They engage in viewpoint-based
censorship with respect to a tiny fraction of the expression they have already
disseminated. The Platforms offer no Supreme Court case even remotely
suggesting that ex post censorship constitutes editorial discretion akin to ex
ante selection. 17 They instead baldly assert that “it is constitutionally
irrelevant at what point in time platforms exercise editorial discretion.” Red
17
The Platforms claim Horton v. City of Houston, 179 F.3d 188 (5th Cir. 1999),
recognized First Amendment rights for organizations that “do not pre-screen submitted
programs.” Id. at 190. Horton is wholly irrelevant. It involved a public forum—a public
access cable channel—and concerned the First Amendment rights of a different party
seeking access to the forum. See id. at 190–91.
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