Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/23pdf/23-411_3dq3.pdf
Page Number: 53

Cite as:  603 U. S. ____ (2024) 

19 

ALITO, J., dissenting 

2021, the White House pressured Facebook into implement-
ing a policy of removing accounts that “disproportionately 
promot[e] . . . sensationalized content” about vaccines.  Su-
pra, at 7.  Later that year, Facebook removed two of Hines’s
groups,  which  posted  about  vaccines.  Supra,  at  15.  And 
when Hines sued in August 2022, she reported that her per-
sonal  page  was  “currently  restricted”  for  sharing  vaccine-
related  content  and,  thus,  that  she  was  “under  constant 
threat of being completely deplatformed.”  4 Record 1314. 
Second, in May, Facebook told Slavitt that it would “se[t]
up more dedicated monitoring” of vaccine content and apply 
demotions to “a broader set of content.”  Supra, at 10.  Then, 
a  few  weeks  later,  Facebook  also  increased  demotions  of 
posts  by  individual  Facebook  accounts  that  repeatedly 
shared misinformation.  Ibid.  Hines says that she was re-
peatedly fact-checked for posting about the vaccines, see su-
pra,  at  15–16;  4  Record  1314,  so  these  policy changes  ap-
parently  increased  the  risk  that  posts  from  her  personal
account would have been hidden from her friends’ Facebook 
feeds. 

Third, in response to the July 2021 comments from the 
White  House  and  the  Surgeon  General,  Facebook  made 
more changes.  Supra, at 13.  And from the details Hines 
provides about her posting history, this policy change would 
have affected her.  For one thing, Facebook “rendered ‘non-
recommendable’ ” any page linked to another account that
had  been  “removed”  for  spreading  misinformation  about 
COVID–19.    9  Record  2701.    Hines  says  that  two  of  her 
groups  were  removed  for  alleged  COVID  misinformation
around this time.  Supra, at 15; 4 Record 1315.  So under 
the new policy, her other pages would apparently be non-
recommendable.  Perhaps for this reason, though Hines at-
tempted to convince members of her deplatformed group to
migrate  to  a  substitute  group,  only  about  a  quarter  of  its 
membership made the move before the substitute group too
was removed.  Ibid.