Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/20-197_5ie6.pdf
Page Number: 10.0

10 

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

locat[ions]”).

Once  again,  a  doctrine,  such  as  public  accommodation, 
that reduces the power of a platform to unilaterally remove
a government account might strengthen the argument that
an  account  is  truly  government  controlled  and  creates  a 
public forum.  See  Southeastern Promotions, 420 U. S., at 
547, 555.  But no party has identified any public accommo-
dation restriction that applies here. 

II 
The similarities between some digital platforms and com-
mon  carriers  or  places  of  public  accommodation  may  give
legislators strong arguments for similarly regulating digi-
tal platforms.  “[I]t stands to reason that if Congress may
demand that telephone companies operate as common car-
riers, it can ask the same of ” digital platforms.  Turner, 512 
U. S.,  at  684  (opinion of  O’Connor,  J.).    That  is  especially
true because the space constraints on digital platforms are
practically  nonexistent  (unlike  on  cable  companies),  so  a 
regulation  restricting  a  digital  platform’s  right  to  exclude
might not appreciably impede the platform from speaking. 
See id., at 675, 684 (noting restrictions on one-third of a ca-
ble  company’s  channels  but  recognizing  that  regulation
may still be justified); PruneYard, 447 U. S., at 88.  Yet Con-
gress does not appear to have passed these kinds of regula-
tions.  To the contrary, it has given digital platforms “im-
munity  from  certain  types  of  suits,”  Candeub  403,  with
respect to content they distribute, 47 U. S. C. §230, but it 
has not imposed corresponding responsibilities, like nondis-
crimination, that would matter here. 

None  of  this  analysis  means,  however,  that  the  First 
Amendment is irrelevant until a legislature imposes com-
mon  carrier  or  public  accommodation  restrictions—only
that the principal means for regulating digital platforms is 
through those methods.  Some speech doctrines might still