US Supreme Court to weigh Florida, Texas laws constraining social media companies
By John Kruzel and Andrew Chung
WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday was set to hear arguments on the legality of Republican-backed laws in Florida and Texas that restrict the ability of social media platforms to curb content that these companies deem objectionable in a pair of cases that could reshape free speech rights in the digital age.
At issue is whether these 2021 state laws regulating content-moderation practices by large social media platforms violate the free speech protections for the companies under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment. Lower courts split on the issue, blocking key provisions of Florida's law while upholding the Texas measure.
The laws were challenged by tech industry trade groups NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), whose members include Facebook parent Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)'s Google, which owns YouTube, as well as TikTok and Snapchat owner Snap.
Neither law has gone into effect due to the litigation.
The justices must decide whether the First Amendment protects the editorial discretion of the social media platforms and prohibits governments from forcing companies to publish content against their will. The companies have said that without such discretion — including the ability to block or remove content or users, prioritize certain posts over others, or include additional context — their websites would be overrun with spam, bullying, extremism and hate speech.
Another issue for the justices is whether the state laws unlawfully burden the free speech rights of social media companies by requiring them to provide users with individualized explanations for certain content-moderation decisions, including
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