The Business, Entrepreneurship & Tax Law Review
Abstract
The contemporary advertising ecosystem is increasingly dominated by social media platforms, prompting advertisers to devote substantial resources to these venues and, in many cases, to coordinate their efforts through umbrella organizations. When these organizations recommend that members withdraw or redirect advertising away from specific platforms, the line between coordinated market behavior and protected expressive conduct becomes blurred. A pending lawsuit by a major social media company alleges that such a coordinated refusal to deal constitutes an unlawful group boycott rather than protected First Amendment activity. Although the Supreme Court has developed frameworks for distinguishing between expressive boycotts and anticompetitive conduct, it is uncertain whether those doctrines map neatly onto the novel dynamics of social media advertising. This Article argues that while existing precedent offers a foundation, courts should incorporate additional considerations tailored to the digital advertising environment when assessing whether such coordinated actions amount to an antitrust violation or protected expressive conduct.
First Page
173
Recommended Citation
Michael Patton,
Between Expression and Restraint: Reconciling First Amendment Protections with Antitrust Enforcement in Social Media Advertising,
10
Bus. Entrepreneurship & Tax L. Rev.
173
(2026).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/betr/vol10/iss1/10