Who Are the 9 Greatest Internet Experts in the United States?

In February, Supreme Court Justice Kagan stated the obvious – that the justices are not the nine greatest experts on the Internet. But, this term, they are going to make rulings that will have, potentially, a very significant impact on the Internet.

The Court agreed to review a dispute between the 6th and 9th circuits, where the two circuits came to different opinions about government officials who blocked citizens from their social media accounts.

Potentially, this could trigger an opinion about whether social media companies are state actors and if that happens, all social media could turn into a garbage dump and become totally unusable, negatively affecting tens of billions of dollars of investors’ equity.

The court also agreed to hear two companion cases which could give them more context for their ruling.

Colorado just passed a law that says that unless the government is paying for an official’s free social media account, it is personal and they can censor whatever they want. That is likely to get drawn into these cases, even though it is not on the docket.

Professor Goldman goes into great detail about the understanding the court will need to have, distinctions they will have to make and decisions that are likely to please no one. You can read Professor Goldman’s blog at the link below.

In the meantime, all there is to do is wait and see what happens, but these 9 folks are about to make some very important decisions – as the Internet experts that they are.

Credit: Professor Eric Goldman

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