Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/23pdf/23-411_3dq3.pdf
Page Number: 66

32 

MURTHY v. MISSOURI 

ALITO, J., dissenting 

Elkins  Act,  enacted  in  1910,  deemed  them  to  be  common 
carriers, and that meant that they were obligated to trans-
mit all messages regardless of content.  See 36 Stat. 544– 
545;  T.  Wu,  A  Brief  History  of  American  Telecommunica-
tions Regulation, in 5 Oxford International Encyclopedia of
Legal History 95 (2007).  Thus, none of these examples jus-
tifies the conduct at issue here. 

C 
Finally,  Facebook’s  responses  to  the  officials’  persistent
inquiries,  criticisms,  and  threats  show  that  the  platform
perceived the statements as something more than mere rec-
ommendations.  Time and time again, Facebook responded
to an angry White House with a promise to do better in the 
future. 
In  March,  Facebook  attempted  to  assuage  the
White House by acknowledging “[w]e obviously have work 
to do to gain your trust.”  30 Record 9365.  In April, Face-
book promised to “more clearly respon[d] to [White House] 
questions.”  Id., at 9371.  In May, Facebook “committed to 
addressing the defensive work around misinformation that 
you’ve called on us to address.”  9 id., at 2698.  In July, Fa-
cebook reached out to the Surgeon General after “the Pres-
ident’s  remarks  about  us”  and  emphasized  its  efforts  “to 
better understand the  scope of what the White House ex-
pects  from  us  on  misinformation  going  forward.”  Id.,  at 
2690.  And of course, as we have seen, Facebook repeatedly 
changed  its  policies  to  better  address  the  White  House’s 
concerns.  See supra, at 7, 10, 13. 

The Government’s primary response is that Facebook oc-
casionally declined to take its suggestions.  Reply Brief 11; 
see,  e.g.,  supra,  at  10.    The  implication  is  that  Facebook 
must  have  chosen  to  undertake  all  of  its  anti-misinfor-
mation efforts entirely of its own accord.

That is bad logic, and in any event, the record shows oth-
erwise.  It is true that Facebook voluntarily undertook some 
anti-misinformation  efforts  and  that  it  declined  to  make