US Supreme Court to weigh state laws constraining social media companies
By Andrew Chung
(Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to decide the legality of Republican-backed state laws in Texas and Florida that constrain the ability of social media companies to curb content on their platforms that these businesses deem objectionable.
The justices took up two cases involving challenges by technology industry groups who argued that these 2021 laws restricting content-moderation practices of large social media platforms violate the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment protections for freedom of speech. Lower courts split on the issue, striking down key provisions of Florida's law while upholding the Texas measure.
The industry challengers to the 2021 laws are NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association, industry groups whose members include Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Inc's Google, which owns YouTube, as well as TikTok and X, formerly called Twitter.
Supporters of the laws have argued that social media platforms have engaged in impermissible censorship and have silenced conservative voices in particular. Advocates of content moderation have argued for the need to stop misinformation and the amplification of extremist causes.
President Joe Biden's administration told the justices in a court filing that the cases merit review because the laws burden the rights of the companies.
«When a social-media platform selects, edits and arranges third-party speech for presentation to the public, it engages in activity protected by the First Amendment,» the Justice Department said.
The cases test the argument made by the industry groups that the First Amendment protects the editorial discretion of the social media platforms and
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