Trump has no right to Twitter's audience

 Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, 1/16/21

When a social media company bans someone, for whatever reason, is that a violation of that person’s free speech rights?

Seems that a lot of people might think so, and actually support it. In a November 2020 Gallup/Knight Foundation poll, 44 percent of Americans expressed support for restrictions on free speech on social media. That was an increase of nine percentage points from the previous year.

I am a staunch supporter of First Amendment rights. But, like it or not, those rights are restricted to the “public square.” And in our current society, we have pretty much abandoned the public square for something that looks like the public square, except it’s privately owned. Disney’s Mainstreet is not the same as the grounds of a state capitol. Twitter, Facebook, Parler, even the webpages of newspapers, are not public space, they are ultimately private spaces which have very large audiences. Their right to publish is constitutionally protected, but it’s not unlimited. They can be sued for libel.

In short, we have freedom of speech, but with limits. The famous "yelling fire in a crowded theatre when there is no fire" is one example.

I have a right to write this essay. I don’t have a right to an audience. I can take this essay to city hall and read it out loud. No one can interfere with me, at least not a government official or anyone acting as their agent. But I cannot demand that people pay attention. I’m fortunate that the editor of the Tribune-Star believes that what I write is worthy of being presented to the newspaper’s audience. The paper has developed an audience. In some ways, perhaps by publishing this essay, they hope to maintain and perhaps even increase it.

Social media has changed access to an audience. With an account, one can have access to an incredible audience, both in terms of size and reach. And the ability to share expands that audience. Whereas a newspaper sells subscriptions, both for print and virtual, social media simply assembles an audience. Audience members consume an incredible amount of advertising and in exchange for “membership” social media companies gather a lot of information from that audience and sell it. Most people who have an account with social media spend more time as an audience member (consumer) than exercising their ability to express themselves to an audience.

The U.S. Constitution provides us with a right to free speech but not to an audience.

Social media doesn’t expand our ability to express ourselves. It expands our ability to reach an audience. And, with private social media companies, beyond the tech, they “own” the audience, or at least access to it.

When Twitter banned President Trump from access to Twitter’s audience, they did not violate his ability to express himself; they denied him “their” audience. President Trump might have millions of “followers” but they have to have a Twitter account, meaning while they follow the President, they are still part of Twitter’s audience. And Twitter “controls” if not “owns” the audience. Nothing stopped him from calling a press conference, the pre-social media manner in which presidents communicated to the country. He could have issued a statement to be run through news media or on the White House website (www.whitehouse.gov).

Finally, if you believe that President Trump’s free speech was violated by Twitter, then getting angry at what the Tribune-Star publishes and canceling your subscription in response is a violation of the freedom of the press. And if that sounds ridiculous, it’s because it is, just as ridiculous as claiming that President Trump’s free speech was violated by Twitter.

However, the ability to deny an audience to certain ideas does seem to have a negative public impact. The ACLU thinks so (will conservatives embrace the ACLU on this one?). But to rein in social media’s power will require regulation. Regulation that conservatives detest (let the market decide) and that liberals might consider but once you begin the task, it quickly becomes impossible. Perhaps we need an NPR Twitter-like platform. A public option, if you will. Less Disney, more National Park.

Thomas L. Steiger is a professor of sociology and director of the Center for Student Research and Creativity at Indiana State University. Email thomas.steiger@indstate.com.