A federal court rejected a conservative nonprofit's First Amendment suit against YouTube on Thursday, ruling the Google-owned company's "braggadocio" about free speech doesn't create a legal requirement to host others' content without restrictions.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling against Prager University is a blow to some conservatives' arguments that platforms like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter are legally liable for decisions that, as they see it, silence right-of-center voices.


YouTube is not a "state actor" bound by the First Amendment, the court ruled, rejecting Prager's argument that the company "performs a public function." It cited a Supreme Court precedent on that principle just last year.