That's a nice legal fiction, but realistically, they did until the moment the courts stepped in and told them to back off. Unless there are severe consequences for unconstitutional actions, the abuse always comes first.
...none of this is what the parent comment was talking about in their claim that there is a "war on free speech".
You are confusing de jure power with de facto power. Government has shown, again and again, that they will abuse and overstep without any legal right to do so. In the meantime until the courts catch up, that coercive power imbalance still exists.
I literally just said this isn’t what the person I replied to was talking about. I’m mistaking nothing.