"[2] With its emphasis on the reaction of an average person rather than that of an especially susceptible person, the court rejected applying the Hicklin test as a means of determining whether material is obscene, and the ruling represented a liberalization of the nation's obscenity laws.
Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, the author of the Court's 5–4 opinion, wrote that it is not "constitutionally sound to read the First Amendment as requiring that the people of Maine or Mississippi accept public depiction of conduct found tolerable in Las Vegas, or New York City," thus opening the way for the Justice Department to prosecute adult entertainment businesses that distribute their products nationally in especially conservative jurisdictions.
[4] Some social media companies operate community standards providing rules or guidance on what it is and what it is not acceptable to post online.
On 25 April 2017, the UK House of Commons Home Affairs Committee stated:[5] We welcome the fact that YouTube, Facebook and Twitter all have clear community standards that go beyond the requirements of the law.
We strongly welcome the commitment that all three social media companies have to removing hate speech or graphically violent content, and their acceptance of their social responsibility towards their users and towards wider communities.Colleges and universities enforce their standards through conduct offices in their Student Affairs divisions.