As the left's collective outrage over Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter grows, Amazon founder (and owner of the Washington Post) Jeff Bezos joined the triggering - asking in a Monday night tweet whether China now has leverage over 'the town square' because Tesla relies on Beijing for business.
Interesting phrase usage. "The Town Square" likening heralds into an old SCOTUS ruling... (not looking it up I am lazy) Marsh V Alabama 1934? IIRC. Where similar if not identical phrasing was used to dictate the 1st amendment applied to private businesses in certain contexts.
That was the one about a private street that allowed public access? I was really surprised that all of these "social media" companies were never massively sued because of this precedent.
What precedent?
Oh fine
Marsh v. Alabama, 326 U.S. 501 (1946), was a case decided by the US Supreme Court, which ruled that a state trespassing statute could not be used to prevent the distribution of religious materials on a town's sidewalk even though the sidewalk was part of a privately-owned company town. The Court based its ruling on the provisions of the First Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment.
(post is archived)