Document Type
Brief
Publication Date
12-7-2023
Abstract
Amici represent a broad cross-section of the national security community and have significant operational and policy expertise in combatting terrorism. They include former career and politically appointed officials, across Republican and Democratic administrations, from the National Security Council staff, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department of Defense, and Department of State, as well as former members of Congress with national security credentials and other national security experts. A complete list of amici is included in the Appendix.<\p>
As experienced national security experts, prosecutors, and law enforcement officials, amici have seen firsthand the threat that online radicalization poses to the United States. In amici’s experience, the use of social media platforms to radicalize, recruit, plot, and plan terrorist attacks is ubiquitous among foreign terrorist organizations and domestic extremists and can be directly traced to acts of terrorism and violence in the United States. Although amici appreciate that information warfare is nothing new, the rise of social media and other online platforms has created a novel and more treacherous battlefield in the war, where foreign adversaries and other malign actors can spread disinformation, propaganda, and recruitment materials far more widely and effectively than ever before. These efforts increase political polarization, sow discord, generate mistrust in governments and institutions, and undermine the national security of the United States.
Our nation’s security depends upon social media platforms to be responsible corporate citizens who seek out dangerous content posted by malign actors and remove it or take other measures to stop its spread. The Florida and Texas statutes at issue significantly restrict the ability of social media platforms to undertake this important work. The brief of the Solicitor General filed at the certiorari stage explained that the content-moderation provisions of both statutes hinder the platforms’ ability to exercise their First Amendment rights to determine whether and how to display third-party content.
Amici appear here to highlight how the Florida and Texas statutes, if allowed to go into effect, will thwart the crucial efforts of social media platforms to moderate dangerous content posted by foreign terrorist groups, foreign adversaries, violent domestic extremists, and other malign actors. These statutes’ enforcement would foster an environment where social media platforms refrain from removing or downranking dangerous content and from developing better methods of identifying such content and mitigating its effects, thereby tilting the battlefield in favor of those who seek to spread disinformation, sow political division, and encourage violence. Such an environment would threaten the national security of the United States. Amici urge the Court to avoid such a dangerous result.
Recommended Citation
McQuade, Barbara, "Amici Brief of National Security Experts on Behalf of Neither Party" (2023). Appellate Briefs. 90.
https://repository.law.umich.edu/briefs/90
Comments
Amicus: Ali, Javed; Brennan, John O.; Brooks, Rosa; Cardillo, Robert; Clapper, Lieutenant James R. Jr.; Cole, James M.; Gartenstein-Ross, Daveed; Groen, Lieutenant Michael S.; Hart, Gary; Hickton, David; Ledgett, Richard H. Jr.; Malinowski, Tom; McCabe, Andrew G.; McChrystal, Stanley; McCord, Mary B.; McQuade, Barbara L.; Medish, Mark; Neumann, Elizabeth; Patterson, Anne; Rosenthal, Daniel; Shedd, David; Sizeland, Elizabeth; Spaulding, Suzanne; Winer, Jonathan M.; White, Timothy TJ