I'm serializing my forthcoming Emory Law Journal article titled Addiction to Constitutionally Protected Activity: Speech, Press, and Religion. In my earlier posts, I argued that concerns about psychological addiction can't justify restrictions that interfere with behavior presumptively protected by the Free Exercise Clause. In my post yesterday, I argued that these concerns likewise generally can't justify restrictions with behavior presumptively protected by the Free Speech or Press Clause, which includes most aspects of social media and video game interface design. Today, I turn to the question whether some of the restrictions may be upheld on the grounds that they are content-neutral.
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For the reasons given above, content-based restrictions aimed at preventing "addiction" are very likely unconstitutional: They would be judged under strict scrutiny, which "as a practical matter, it is fatal in fact absent truly extraordinary circumstances."[102]
