> we could reasonably categorize engagement algorithms with certain properties as harmful to people and not subject to first amendment protections

This is a hope, however I have not seen any effort that wasn't scuppered, until recently.

The social media bans are a lurch in that direction.

I could separate them out into different strands:

1) Society saying that the engagement algorithms is not what we want to have in our lives or the lives of our children

2) Problematic technical implementations, or benign technical implementations that invade privacy and support government gaining more powers over speech.

Any regulation shaping algorithms is perilously close to shaping speech. Now if you say algorithms are speech or editorial decisions that platforms have their own freedom to choose, then you essentially strip them of their protections.

This would force a form of moderation that would have most people up in arms on HN.

I fully admit, I am being rough in my cuts; the point I am attempting to make is that any decision to decide what constitutes protected and unprotected speech is going to be government interference.

It may even be likely that the firms such as Meta or Tik Tok would end up as untenable under such rules.