Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/16pdf/15-1194_08l1.pdf
Page Number: 8

Cite as:  582 U. S. ____ (2017) 

5 

Opinion of the Court 

identifying  the  most  important  places  (in  a  spatial  sense)
for the exchange of views, today the answer is clear.  It is 
cyberspace—the  “vast  democratic  forums  of  the  Internet”
in  general,  Reno  v.  American  Civil  Liberties  Union,  521 
U. S.  844,  868  (1997),  and  social  media  in  particular.
Seven  in  ten  American  adults  use  at  least  one  Internet 
social  networking  service.    Brief  for  Electronic  Frontier 
Foundation  et al.  as  Amici  Curiae  5–6.  One  of  the  most 
popular  of  these  sites  is  Facebook,  the  site  used  by  peti-
tioner leading to his conviction in this case.  According to
sources cited to the Court in this case, Facebook has 1.79 
billion  active  users.    Id.,  at  6.    This  is  about  three  times 
the population of North America.

Social media offers “relatively unlimited, low-cost capac-
ity  for  communication  of  all  kinds.”    Reno,  supra,  at  870. 
On  Facebook,  for  example,  users  can  debate  religion  and 
politics with their friends and neighbors or share vacation 
photos.  On  LinkedIn,  users  can  look  for  work,  advertise 
for employees, or review tips on entrepreneurship.  And on 
Twitter,  users  can  petition  their  elected  representatives
and  otherwise  engage  with  them  in  a  direct  manner.
Indeed, Governors in all 50 States and almost every Mem-
ber of Congress have set up accounts for this purpose.  See 
Brief for Electronic Frontier Foundation 15–16.  In short, 
social  media  users  employ  these  websites  to  engage  in  a 
wide  array  of  protected  First  Amendment  activity  on 
topics “as diverse as human thought.”  Reno, supra, at 870 
(internal quotation marks omitted).

The nature of a revolution in thought can be that, in its
early  stages,  even  its  participants  may  be  unaware  of  it.
And  when  awareness  comes,  they  still  may  be  unable  to 
know  or  foresee  where  its  changes  lead.    Cf.  D.  Hawke, 
Benjamin Rush: Revolutionary Gadfly 341 (1971) (quoting 
Rush as observing: “ ‘The American war is over; but this is 
far from being the case with the American revolution.  On 
the contrary, nothing  but the first act of the great  drama