Date of Award

Summer 2023

Degree Type

Restricted to Claremont Colleges Dissertation

Degree Name

Political Science, PhD

Program

School of Social Science, Politics, and Evaluation

Advisor/Supervisor/Committee Chair

Melissa Rogers

Dissertation or Thesis Committee Member

Tyler Reny

Dissertation or Thesis Committee Member

Carlos Algara

Dissertation or Thesis Committee Member

Linnea McCord

Terms of Use & License Information

Terms of Use for work posted in Scholarship@Claremont.

Rights Information

© 2023 Gia Honnen-Weisdorn

Keywords

Constitutional law, First Amendment, Free Speech, Nondelegation doctrine, Separation of powers, Social Media

Subject Categories

Intellectual Property Law | Law | Political Science

Abstract

Chapter 1 explores the issue of when and whether Big Tech stops being a private actor and become a “state actor” under the entanglement-entwinement theory such that the U.S. Constitution applies to its conduct, whether social media platforms are common law “common carriers,” and the state regulatory approach for “quasi” state actors. Chapter 2 explores the nondelegation doctrine using James Madison’s view of the republic, dyadic representation, and separation of powers to analyze the Supreme Courts’ current “intelligible principle” standard, using Justice Gursuch’s dissent in the Gundy v. U.S. case to propose a new four-part measuring stick to assess improper legislative delegation to the executive branch. Chapter 3 explores the idea of a Congressional response to Section 230 with a proposed new “must carry” statute for large social media platforms that bans all content moderation, uses federal preemption to occupy the regulatory field, levels the competitive playing field for social media, and otherwise leaves the existing Section 230 scheme with “light touch” regulation intact for all other interactive internet services.

ISBN

9798380437844

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Available for download on Thursday, October 02, 2025

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