Willick: The First Amendment battle that could transform Big Tech

For a quarter-century, it appeared the law was settled: Silicon Valley’s internet platforms were private companies, full stop, with absolute control over what content to promote or suppress. As the platforms tightened political control over user speech in recent years, conservatives complained about “Big Tech Censorship,” but legal experts scoffed. Scoffing will no longer suffice. Supposedly settled law can be altered when its political foundation erodes. Liberals now take a dimmer view of free speech than they did at the dawn of the tech era, while conservatives take a dimmer view of corporate power. That has created an opening for a frontal assault on the rules that govern America’s digital public square. Now the Supreme Court is being asked to weigh in.