Glad to have clarified some things. Regarding the first amendment stuff, I suppose the turning point for you was this line,

> Biden was influential, and that makes these conversations interesting, particularly in light of what Josh Hawley has been sharing regarding this admin's communications with Facebook.

Perhaps you don't see the connection because you're unfamiliar with what Senator Hawley's been up to. If that's the case, I'd recommend checking out that video, his questioning of Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas during a hearing on threats to national security. Here is the full video of the hearing [1] [2].

Otherwise, if you already knew about that, the connection is clear from where I stand. Political candidates seek to influence social media's moderation policies and/or actions both before and after taking office. Both Trump and Biden are on the record commenting on this stuff, and I think it's up for debate whether anyone in either of their administrations is punishably culpable for indirectly abridging the first amendment via their efforts. We haven't seen all of the evidence.

Again, public officials are on the record almost every day cheering on the private sector for removing constitutionally protected speech that politicians are legally restricted from removing. Here is a particularly revealing admission from former CIA analyst and now House Representative (D-MI 8th District) Elissa Slotkin,

> "We had all kinds of exploration into this on a bipartisan basis and couldn't manage what the private cable companies in the united states did in one week after the invasion. The Russians go into Ukraine and all these private cable companies decided, you know what, I'm not going to be responsible for peddling this stuff, and they cut them off and now you can't see that R.T. on Howard Johnson's, you know on the TV. So I think the other super interesting thing about what's going on between Russia and Ukraine is the role of the private sector and how that's affecting national security right when visa and Paypal and McDonald's willingly without any guidance or or push from the white house shut down operations in Russia that has more daily effect on the lives of a Russian citizen than probably at this point anything we're doing in sanctions so i think that is just it's an aside that the private sector is in this space with us and i think has a growing role in playing a part in national security for us." [3]

See also comments from Emma Llanso, Director of Free Expression at the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) at 29:00 in the Tech Policy Podcast #331: Section 230’s Long Path to SCOTUS,

> "So when we think about the big picture and systemic role that section 230 plays, understanding those dynamics, that the whole reason Cox and Wyden framed the whole section for Section 230 as the 'Good Samaritan' protection for blocking and filtering of content, it was some of this recognition that there is a job here that we want to see these intermediaries do, and that job is taking down or restricting access to other people's constitutionally protected speech. And that is not something Congress can do directly. That is not a law that Congress can pass, to require intermediaries to take action against lawful speech. That's not to say Congress has not considered passing some such laws, the whole duty of (care?) concept is another podcast, but at the core of it, we're talking about, is there illegal speech at issue, and so much of the abuse that we want to see addressed by intermediaries, we need them to basically voluntarily take action against." [4]

Such voluntary censorship can help politicians get elected, and if they support the private sector's removal of things that might cast them in a bad light, both before and after taking office, then I find that concerning. Actions that come after taking office may or may not be punishable, and that is why similar influence exerted during campaigns is interesting to follow.

Time for USA vs. Netherlands!

[1] https://www.c-span.org/video/?524139-1/senate-homeland-secur...

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaMzQddu8xc

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxZ0EGLDDaM&t=8329s

[4] https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/331-section-230s-long-...