Milo Yiannopoulos getting permanently banned from Twitter is not a First Amendment issue

Last night, Twitter took the unusual measure of kicking Breitbart editor and right-wing “troll” Milo Yiannopoulos (@nero) off the service, permanently.

Yiannopoulos’s followers, of which there are many, are arguing that this is a suppression of free speech, and that the ban is a violation of the First Amendment. This is incorrect.

Twitter is a private enterprise, and according to Twitter, Yiannopoulos violated its terms of service. Twitter is well within its rights to boot Yiannopoulos; the guy doesn’t have a right to be on Twitter, especially if he doesn’t play by the rules.

Or as the XKCD webcomic author Randall Munroe memorably put it:

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

Will you join us?

Our biggest supporters are our readers — and we’re so grateful to everyone who has made a contribution during our September campaign. We’re less than 1,000 contributions away from reaching our goal for the month, which in turn will allow us to say yes more often when our incredible journalists come to us with questions they want to answer and projects they want to pursue. Will you make a contribution before the month ends and support our policy coverage through 2024 and beyond?

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via