What does John Milton (1644) suggest about deplatforming on Facebook and Twitter?

Does Milton’s Areopagitica speak to us in the era of digital platforms? A bill has been introduced to the Texas legislature relating to the censorship of users’ expressions by an interactive computer service that would take effect September 1, 2021.

Writing about John Milton’s Areopagitica in the Supreme Court Review, Vincent Blasi reviews Milton’s arguments in light of free speech issues today. He observes of Milton:

His compelling images of administrative arrogance, corruption, and mindless rigidity should always be part of the equation as each new threat or outrage generates well-meaning proposals for limited, carefully confined restrictions on speech. (Blasi, p. 308).

References:

Areopagitica; A speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc'd Printing, to the Parlament of England (1644).

Blasi, Vincent. 2018. “A Reader’s Guide to John Milton’s Areopagitica, the Foundational Essay of the First Amendment Tradition.” Supreme Court Review 2017 (1): 273–312.  (Blasi is Corliss Lamont Professor of Civil Liberties at Columbia Law School).