The Supreme Court made a decision on Monday regarding two First Amendment cases related to social media content moderation. They have sent these cases back to lower courts, effectively maintaining a hold on laws that limit what platforms can do with the content posted on their platforms.
Justice Elena Kagan delivered the court’s opinion, instructing lower courts to conduct a thorough analysis of the facial First Amendment challenges to laws in Florida and Texas that regulate large internet platforms.
In her opinion, Justice Elena Kagan stated that in order to determine the constitutionality of these laws, the courts must assess all the possible applications, distinguish between what is constitutional and what is not, and compare the two sides. She emphasized that this essential inquiry was not carried out by the lower courts.
These cases revolve around laws in Florida and Texas that impose restrictions on social media companies and their content moderation practices on their platforms.
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Both of these laws were enacted in 2021, shortly after former president Donald Trump had his social media accounts suspended on major platforms and posts spreading COVID-19 misinformation were removed.
Conservatives accused social media companies of censorship, while companies like Meta, Google, and X argued that controlling speech on their platforms is within their First Amendment rights.
Although further proceedings are expected in the future, NetChoice, representing companies like Meta, Google, and X, expressed their satisfaction with the Supreme Court’s ruling.
“Today’s ruling from the Supreme Court is a victory for First Amendment rights online,” said Chris Marchese, director of the NetChoice Litigation Center. “NetChoice will continue to vigorously defend Americans’ rights to free expression online.”
On the other hand, conservatives like Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton pledged to continue their fight to safeguard social media users from what they perceive as conservative content censorship.
“No American,” as he said on X, “should be silenced by big tech oligarchs.”
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “while there are aspects of the decision we disagree with, we look forward to continuing to defend state law.”
