Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/23pdf/22-277_d18f.pdf
Page Number: 64.0

2 

MOODY v. NETCHOICE, LLC 

ALITO, J., concurring in judgment 

need and no good reason to decide anything other than the
facial unconstitutionality question actually before us.  After 
all, we do not know how the platforms “moderate” their us-
ers’ content, much less whether they do so in an inherently
expressive way under the First Amendment.  Nevertheless, 
the majority is undeterred.  It inexplicably singles out a few
provisions and a couple of platforms for special treatment.
And it unreflectively assumes the truth of NetChoice’s un-
supported  assertion  that  social-media  platforms—which
use secret algorithms to review and moderate an almost un-
imaginable quantity of data today—are just as expressive
as the newspaper editors who marked up typescripts in blue
pencil 50 years ago.

These as-applied issues are important, and we may have
to decide them before too long.  But these cases do not pro-
vide the proper occasion to do so.  For these reasons, I am 
therefore compelled to provide a more complete discussion
of those matters than is customary in an opinion that con-
curs only in the judgment. 

I 
As the Court has recognized, social-media platforms have
become the “modern public square.”  Packingham v. North 
Carolina, 582 U. S. 98, 107 (2017).  In just a few years, they
have transformed the way in which millions of Americans
communicate with family and friends, perform daily chores,
conduct business, and learn about and comment on current 
events.  The vast majority of Americans use social media,1 
and the average person spends more than two hours a day 
on various platforms.2  Young people now turn primarily to 
—————— 

1 J.  Gottfried,  Pew  Research  Center,  Americans’  Social  Media  Use  3 
(2024).  As platforms incorporate new features and technology, the num-
ber  of  Americans  who  use  social  media  is  expected  to  grow.    S.  Dixon, 
Statista,  Social  Media  Users 
in  the  United  States  2020–2029 
(Jan.  30,  2024),  https://www.statista.com/statistics/278409/number-of-
social-network-users-in-the-united-states. 

2 V.  Filak,  Exploring  Mass  Communication:  Connecting  With  the