Washington — The Computer & Communications Industry Association, together with fellow trade organization NetChoice, has filed an amicus brief with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Republican National Committee (RNC) v. Google, explaining that, like other digital services, email service providers such as Gmail engage in editorial discretion and curation that is protected by the First Amendment. Pursuant to their terms of service, email services protect users from spam, fraud, and other dangerous or unwanted content—work that entails the same types of editorial decisions as social media websites.
The following can be attributed to CCIA Senior Vice President, Chief of Staff, and Director of CCIA Litigation Center Stephanie Joyce:
“Email services like Gmail make curatorial decisions in much the same way as websites and therefore deserve the same protections that the Supreme Court recently reiterated in Moody. Interference in those decisions—including via the claims brought in this lawsuit—warrants the same heightened scrutiny that applies when the government intrudes into the expressive activity of social media websites.”
