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BIDEN v. KNIGHT FIRST AMENDMENT INSTITUTE  
AT COLUMBIA UNIV. 
THOMAS, J., concurring 

these  companies  special  privileges,  governments  place
them  into  a  category  distinct  from  other  companies  and
closer  to  some  functions,  like  the  postal  service,  that  the 
State has traditionally undertaken.

Second,  governments  have  limited  a  company’s  right  to
exclude  when  that  company  is  a  public  accommodation. 
This  concept—related  to  common-carrier  law—applies  to
companies that hold themselves out to the public but do not 
“carry”  freight,  passengers,  or  communications.    See,  e.g., 
Civil  Rights  Cases,  109  U. S.  3,  41–43  (1883)  (Harlan,  J., 
dissenting) (discussing places of public amusement).  It also 
applies  regardless  of  the  company’s  market  power.  See, 
e.g., 78 Stat. 243, 42 U. S. C. §2000a(a). 

B 
Internet platforms of course have their own First Amend-
ment interests, but regulations that might affect speech are
valid if they would have been permissible at the time of the 
founding.  See United States v. Stevens, 559 U. S. 460, 468 
(2010).  The long history in this country and in England of 
restricting  the  exclusion  right  of  common  carriers  and 
places  of  public  accommodation  may  save  similar  regula-
tions today from triggering heightened scrutiny—especially
where  a  restriction  would  not  prohibit  the  company  from
speaking or force the company to endorse the speech.  See 
Turner  Broadcasting  System,  Inc.  v.  FCC,  512  U. S.  622, 
684 (1994) (O’Connor, J., concurring in part and dissenting 
in part); PruneYard Shopping Center v. Robins, 447 U. S. 
74, 88 (1980).  There is a fair argument that some digital
platforms are sufficiently akin to common carriers or places 
of accommodation to be regulated in this manner. 

In many ways, digital platforms that hold themselves out 
to  the  public  resemble  traditional  common  carriers. 

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