The First Amendment and Social Media

The six freedoms of the First Amendment. We all take advantage of these everyday but most of us don’t realize what they are. Most people don’t even know what the six freedoms are protecting and what they don’t. The first amendment condones your right to free speech, the freedom to practice religion without government interference, the freedom from a government established religion, the right to freedom of the press, the right to assemble peacefully and the right to petition the government. The First Amendment, however, is not a shield against laws of general applicability. Obviously, the First Amendment was passed in 1791, so how does the First Amendment relate to today’s world? In some aspects, the First Amendment still applies today just as it did back in 1791. You are still able to practice any religion you please; Christian, Jewish, Islam, Atheist, it doesn’t matter, the government has no control over it. Same goes for the government established religion. The United States is one of several developed countries that does not have a government established religion. But, when it comes to free speech and this age of social media, does the first amendment still protect your right to free speech the same way it did in 1791? Well, Social media is not the government. Social media companies like Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook just to name a few all have these documents that we all see but never pay attention to that we must agree to when we create an account. These documents are a part of the companies “Terms and Conditions” and these Terms and Conditions are basically the companies rules that you agree too and have to abide by in order to keep using their services. NBC Connecticut wrote a story shortly after former president Donald Trump was banned off Twitter and the idea arose that that was in violation of the First Amendment and, in my opinion, summed the argument up perfectly; “It’s not a violation of your constitutional rights to free speech, but you may not be following the guidelines you agreed to in those terms and conditions to use private social media platforms. The First Amendment is meant to keep the government from restricting free speech, not private companies.”