Read the following letter to the editor.
To the Editor:
Defective airplanes, tobacco products, cars without
seatbelts and social media posts: One of these things is not
like the others.
The surgeon general Dr. Vivek Murthy proposes applying
warning labels to social media platforms as if they are surely
dangerous, like cigarettes and airplanes whose doors fall
off during a flight. But there’s another way social media is
different: It’s a tool we use to express ourselves. As such, its
use is protected by the First Amendment1
.
This isn’t the first time the government has tried to regulate
expression in the name of protecting kids. It tried to do so in
the 1950s with comics, the 1980s with rock music and the
1990s with video games. We now look back on these efforts
as misguided and unconstitutional.
Nico Perrino
Washington
The writer is the executive vice president of FIRE, the Foundation for
Individual Rights and Expression.
(www.nytimes.com, 24.06.2024. Adapted.)
1First Amendment: an item in the American Constitution that guarantees the
people freedom concerning religion and expression, among other rights.
It is the letter writer’s explicit position on protection protocols: