In a pair of cases heard this month, the Supreme Court has faced collisions between the First Amendment’s right to speech and the unprecedented dangers presented by the internet and social media.

The justices must decide whether to give legislatures the benefit of the doubt when it comes to laws aimed at protecting Americans from Chinese data manipulation on the one hand, and preventing children’s access to online pornography on the other — or whether to step in as the nation’s top policy czars. So far, the court seems to be ably striking a balance.

Both cases involve novel technologies that did not exist when the First Amendment was ratified in 1791. Looming in the background, therefore, is the question of how far the court will take the First Amendment for purposes of protecting the rights of online and social media corporations — which it found in Citizens United have free speech rights — even in the face of evidence that their platforms cause harm to the public. By the same token, the cases present the question of whether legislatures can impose reasonable restraints on access to the internet and social media. The implications are vast.

On Jan. 15, the court heard oral arguments in Free........

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