Something about "private" media companies and their dependence on the conditions of their use of Public airwaves and rights of way.
While its true many companies like Facebook and Twitter are "private it's also true that they utilize public airwaves such as microwave repeaters and satellites and wifi to transmit their data as well as public rights of way such as overhead and underground transmission lines .
Those things are actually regulated and their use is conditional upon the public good and the reduction of interference with other transmissions.. Those private companies do not own those airwaves or those rights of way.
typical their use is governed by the lineage of laws descending from the first regulation of the radio airwaves and subsequent regulations.
"History
Technology was the driving force in encouraging regulation of broadcast. "The physical limitation on the airwaves or electromagnetic spectrum restricts the number of stations".[1] Regulation of radio was set in motion in 1910 when the US Congress felt legislation was needed over the infant wireless communication industry.[2] First regulated by an independent commission, radio grew exponentially during the 1920s and encouraged the development of broadcasting.[2] As a result, the Radio Act of 1927 was passed.[2] The act's passage was a result of the unrestricted utilization of wireless telegraph and telephone use.[1] The usage impeded upon public and private message transmission, especially vessels in distress.[1] The implementation of the act generated an independent commission, the Federal Radio Commission, to determine regulatory policy for broadcasting in the United States.[2] Designed to be short-term, the act was renewed every year until 1934.[3] "
source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulation_of_radio_broadcast_in_the_United_States
since then all of which took away the pre-existing rights of private citizens to broadcast themselves on radio to better organize the use of airwaves for the public good and the reduction of interference .
Specific guidelines for public good and the reduction of interference were adopted for things such as license and underground and overhead wire installations as well as satellite operations all descendent from the original Radio act.
essential to all of it including these laws taking away private citizens rights to self broadcast and thus limiting their freedom of speech was the premise that their subsequent use would be for the public good and the reduction of interference.
as a result many private citizens who were actually already broadcasting on the radio waves at the time with their own radio sets which were hugely popular lost their freedom of speech in this sort of constitutional exchange of private rights for the public good.
When the public good is no longer served such as through lies or political manipulation then those laws are all invalidated leaving recourse to either prevent those private companies from using any public rights of way or airwaves and or giving back to private citizens the rights to broadcast radio and television signals unhindered over the airwaves.
Well I think a great case can be made that large private companies today are definitely not acting in the public good and are certainly doing their best to interfere with the transmissions of others.
furthermore it does not matte r if the private companies such as facebook is the the holder of the microwave retransmission line license or the underground cable companies rights. If those third party companies are carrying those other private companies products then liability for loss of license and rights to use public rights of way should be lost.