Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is something else to keep in mind which is that the government can evade the 1st amendment by pressuring companies to take action against speech it doesn’t like. “Hostile environment” laws around workplace conduct are a good example of this; the strict interpretation of the first amendment might not allow the government to directly regulate such speech by employees, but the threat of EEOC lawsuits can compel co…
There is something else to keep in mind which is that the government can evade the 1st amendment by pressuring companies to take action against speech it doesn’t like. No, what you have described is a free speech violation and US courts have already addressed this point many times. And you clearly misunderstand why hostile environment laws have survived First Amendment lawsuits. The government cannot interfere with t…
Courts cannot always address such issues anyway due to the doctrine of “standing”. For instance, government in the 90s pressured the video game industry to self regulate by establishing a rating system and prohibiting the sale of M rated games to minors in various chain stores. If the government themselves had passed such a law it would have been subject to lawsuit under the 1A, but because it was a voluntary action by the industry there is no one to sue (after all, by suing the industry who put these standards in place, one could say that you’re now violating their right to free speech and association!)
But to summarize it simply, the government cannot outlaw using a racial slur under common 1st amendment doctrine. However it can outlaw a company allowing an employee to use a racial slur in the workplace. While this is a good result (I don’t want to work somewhere where my coworkers use such slurs) it’s an interesting example of how the power of government is less limited by 1A than one might think at first.
Similarly, YouTube, Facebook, etc have been getting a lot of flack from the government lately over Russian bots, trolls, etc. Moves like these to boot InfoWars could be smart business to placate the Democrats who may soon be in power. Infowars has been awful trash for years, and plenty of awful stuff remains on their platforms after all.