The Supreme Court heard two cases on Monday that challenge big tech's online censorship of Conservatives.

Just because we're upset or frustrated by a couple of content moderation decisions, doesn't mean we should hand over control of the Internet to the government. How could the court's decision change the social media landscape?

I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief, John Bickley. It's Tuesday, February 27th, and this is Morning Wire. Following the murder of a Georgia nursing student last week, Legacy Media is facing a barrage of backlash for burying a key fact in their coverage.

And today is Michigan's presidential primary. Will the state's Democrats pull the lever for President Biden, or will we see a significant protest vote?

If you want us to be louder, then come here and vote uncommitted. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wired. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.

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The Supreme Court heard arguments on Monday in two cases that could have major implications for online speech. The court will decide whether states like Texas and Florida have the right to prevent social media platforms from suppressing conservative views.

Daily Wire Culture reporter, Megan Basch listened to all four hours of the oral arguments. So, Megan, first off, can you give us some background on these cases?

So the Florida law in question, which was passed back in 2021, makes it illegal for platforms like X, Facebook, TikTok, really all the biggies to ban or censor political candidates or to throttle posts about candidates. And it also prevents the apps from taking, and I'm quoting, any action to censor, de-platform, or shadow ban a journalistic enterprise based on the content of its publication or broadcast. So think of the New York Post's accurate reporting on Hunter Biden's laptop, for example. That was broadly censored in the run up to the 2016 election. And then finally, the law requires any content moderation standards to be applied in a consistent manner. Now, the Texas law is similar, but it's somewhat more broad in preventing the platforms from censoring based on political viewpoints. So Netchoice, which is a trade group that represents big tech, is suing the two saying that this violates the first amendment rights of these social media companies and that they shouldn't have to host hate speech or views that they find offensive. Florida attorney general Ashley Moody, however, told Morning Wire that her state's law makes it clear that It does not protect that speech.

It really is a battle of the companies that argue they have the free speech rights to censor, de-platform, shadow ban.

Florida, who says, We have the right to pass legislation education that protects those that are going on to these platforms. You have to apply these things in a fair and consistent way.

Really the question at issue here is whether the social media platforms are like phone companies and other utilities and have to accommodate everyone. That's the position that more than a dozen red states are taking. Or if they're more like newspapers and other publishers and they're allowed to curate editorial content as they see fit, that's the position that the tech companies are taking.

Now, how did the justices seem to respond to both sides?

Well, it can always be a little bit dangerous to try to read the tea leaves based just on the justices' questions. But I do have to say that after hearing their responses, it seemed to me like a majority were sympathetic to the position of the platforms. Justice Kavanaugh said that when he thinks of Orwellian, he thinks of the state, not the private sector. Justice Sotomayor said that under these laws, ETSI might not be able to decide which items it allows to be sold in its platform. Now, on the other hand, Justice Alito asked if under the reasoning of these platforms, Google might be allowed to cut off the email accounts of, say, Rachel Maddow or Tucker Carlson. Justice Thomas has long seemed to align with the view that these companies should be treated as public utilities because that's why they received Section 230 protections that prevent them from being sued for the speech they host. Justice Barrett did acknowledge that any ruling here could create landmines for 230. But Carl Zabo, who is the VP and general counsel for Net Choice, told Morning Wire that Section 230 protections should remain even if the court decides the platforms are more like editors than utilities.

Zabo describes himself as conservative, and he presents why this is such a challenging issue.

At the end of the day, the Section 230 argument actually argues in favor of the First Amendment applying to the internet, and thus, the states of Florida and Texas are forbidden from compelled speech, forcing those same platforms to host lawful but awful content that they just don't want.

One thing that did not really come up, however, is that we now know that federal agencies have flagged posts and users for the tech platforms to censor, and some have argued that this has made them a de facto arm of the government.

Well, hopefully that's an issue they could take up in another case then. Yeah. Megan, thanks for reporting.

Anytime.

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Both the mainstream news media and the Biden administration are being criticized for their response to a brutal murder last week in Georgia. Critics say they are purposefully obfuscating the fact that the suspect is an illegal immigrant.

The killing of nursing student, Laken Reilly, shocked the University of Georgia campus where it took place and the nation, and that shock only increased when it learned that the suspect, Jose Antonio Ibarra, is in the country illegally, has a lengthy rap sheet, and had a warrant for his arrest. Here to discuss the media coverage of this story and the White House reaction to it is Daily Wire contributor David Marcus. Hey, Dave. So just how quiet has the media been about Ibarra's immigration status.

Morning, John. We haven't seen complete media silence as we do with some issues. There have been network news stories highlighting that Ibarra is in the country illegally, but it's probably not time to start bringing out the Journalism Award coverage just yet. Cnn, for example, didn't mention it until 15 paragraphs into its initial coverage. The Atlanta Journal Constitution referred to Ibarra as a, quote, Athens man, referring to the town in Georgia instead of referring to him as an illegal migrant. The AP ran a story about the dangers of women jogging alone. So there's still reticence. What the news media is slowly accepting, though, is that these are not just isolated incidents. Every week we talk about it, whether it's cops being assaulted in New York or Venezuelan gangs in Miami or tragic murders like that of Lake and Reilly all over the country. Polling shows us this is an important issue for the American people and one that is hurting Joe Biden right now. It's also an issue that just can no longer be ignored. No, it can't.

Speaking of Biden, in light of all this recent violence, many are revisiting his 2021 decision to disband the Trump era victims of Immigration Crime Engagement Office, known as Voice. What was Voice and why did Biden shut down in the first place?

Voice was an office that would assist victims or the families of victims of crimes committed by migrants. It was also a useful tool in tracking that criminal or violent behavior. It was part of a whole suite of Trump policies on immigration that were systematically dismantled in the first few months of the Biden administration. Biden axed voice in June of 2021. It's interesting to see how CBS News described the decision back then, calling it, and I quote, A move that symbolizes President Joe Biden's rejection of former President Donald Trump's repeated efforts to link immigrants to crime. Almost three years later, the reality of that linkage is self-evident, and Biden Democrats and the media are being forced to accept that reality, at least to some degree.

Finally, how have Trump and Republicans responded to all of this?

Look, Trump and most Republicans lay these tragedies right at the feet of Biden for the simple reason that the the alleged assailants never should have been in the country. In recent days, during speeches and interviews, Trump has introduced the term migrant crime crisis, and that's an indication that he plans to make this a centerpiece of his likely matchup with Joe Biden. Even if Biden does pivot and reintroduce some of the old Trump policies, the former President will be right there to say, What took you so long? Obviously, the longer that Biden waits to do something, the more of these horrible incidents we're likely to see, and the more innocent lives, such as that of Lake and Reilly, may be lost.

None of us want to see any more preventable tragedies like this one. No. Dave, thanks for reporting.

Thanks for having me.

It's primary day in Michigan as voters in both parties will choose their nominee for President.

Here with more, including details on growing democratic disillusionment with President Biden, is Daily Wire Senior Editor, Kabbit Phillips. So, Kabbit, what's the latest on these primaries? Yeah.

So both parties heading to the polls in Michigan today on On the Republican side, former President Trump is polling around 75% and is expected to easily pick up his fifth straight victory. On the other side, despite a primary challenge from Democratic congressman, Dean Phillips, Joe Biden is also expected to come out on top, but it won't be as smooth of a win as you'd expect to see from an incumbent president. Polling from the state shows him trailing Donald Trump in every single poll since October, and much of that can be attributed to growing frustration among the state's Democrats.

We've seen a lot of pushback from the left, specifically in Michigan. What are their main issues?

Well, there are a few indicators to go on. First is the response to President Biden's handling of the war in Gaza. Michigan is home to the country's largest Arab-American population, a voting block that has been reliably blue for years. But those voters and the Democratic lawmakers representing them have expressed outrage with his support of Israel, and more specifically, his refusal to call for a ceasefire in the conflict. To that point, a number of progressive leaders in the state launched the Listen to Michigan campaign last month, encouraging Democrats to vote uncommitted in the primary today as a form of protest. That campaign has garnered legitimate support from influential figures in Michigan, including Congresswoman Rachida Taleb, former rep Andy Levin, and more than 30 other elected officials across the state, as well as Detroit's Metro Times newspaper. For her part, Rep Taleb said, Biden is risking another Trump term over his support of Israel. Here's the group's campaign manager speaking with CBS.

In order to send that message to Biden that if he doesn't listen to his poor constituency, the 80% of Democrats that support a permanent ceasefire, that he's going to be in trouble come November.

While the protest campaign is unlikely to prevent Biden from winning the state, it has certainly gotten the attention of Democrat leaders supportive of the President, including Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who spoke out against the effort on CNN.

Any vote that's not cast for Joe Biden supports a second Trump term. A second Trump term would be devastating. This is, I think, a very high stakes moment.

Biden is expected to win by a large margin today, but clearly there's signs of fracture in the base.

Right. I'll give you another example of that. North Star Opinion Research conducted a poll of voters in Michigan who supported Biden back in 2020 and found that nearly 20% say they will vote against him today as a form of protest. We've also seen indications that younger Biden voters are leaving the President. A recent New York Times poll found not only that Trump is ahead of Biden nationally among 18 to 29-year-olds, but that 21% of those who went for Biden in 2020 have now switched to Trump, with the largest shift coming among those who say Biden is too supportive of Israel. Now, obviously, Donald Trump is a staunch supporter of Israel himself, so it remains to be seen if those discontended young people will vote for Trump or simply stay home, but it is indicative of a legitimate fracture. While Biden, again, will almost certainly win today, there's anecdotal and also empirical evidence that he is in for a much tougher time in Michigan and other battleground states come the general election.

Is he doing anything to address that trend?

Yeah. Look, he's trying to walk this political tightrope where he's maintaining support of Israel, something more popular among the moderate wing of the party, while still offering support for the Palestinians to try and win over that progressive base. On that note, Biden has, in recent weeks, criticized the Israeli government publicly, calling their actions in Gaza, Over the top, and issued an executive order imposing sanctions on Israeli Healy's in the West Bank, who he accused of committing violence against Palestinians. Now the big question becomes if he can appease both sides with his handling of the conflict, or if each faction ends up more frustrated come election day.

Well, we're going to start to get a little bit of an idea of where things are going with today's primary. Kabbit, thanks for reporting. Any time.

Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back this afternoon with more news you need to know.

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