((Automatic translation by Reuters, please see disclaimer https://bit.ly/rtrsauto)) by John Kruzel
The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule Monday on the legality of Republican-backed laws in Florida and Texas that aim to prevent social media companies from restricting content the platforms deem objectionable — laws the industry says infringe on those companies’ free speech rights .
The justices were asked to decide whether the two laws run afoul of First Amendment protections against government curtailment of free speech, as argued by the industry, by interfering with social media companies’ editorial discretion. The 2021 laws will impose restrictions on content moderation practices on major social media platforms.
The Supreme Court set Monday as its last day to make decisions in its current term, which began in October.
The laws were challenged by industry groups NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), whose members include Meta Platform’s META.O, Facebook’s parent company Google
Alphabet’s GOOGL.O, which owns YouTube, as well as TikTok and Snapchat, owns Snap SNAP.N.
Lower courts split on the issue, blocking key provisions of the Florida law while upholding the Texas measure. Neither law went into effect because of the lawsuit.
The dispute centered on whether the First Amendment protects editorial freedom on social media platforms and prohibits governments from forcing companies to publish content against their will. The companies said that without this discretion — including the ability to block or remove content or users, prioritize certain posts over others or include additional context — their websites would be inundated with spam, bullying, extremism and hate speech.
Many Republicans have argued that social media platforms stifle conservative voices under the guise of content moderation, calling the practice censorship.
President Joe Biden’s administration has opposed the Florida and Texas laws, arguing that restrictions on content moderation violate the First Amendment by requiring platforms to feature and promote content they deem objectionable.
Representatives from Florida and Texas responded that these companies’ content moderation actions did not fall within the protections of the First Amendment because this type of conduct is not speech per se.
The Texas law would prohibit social media companies with at least 50 million monthly active users from acting to “censor” users based on their “viewpoint,” and would allow users or the Texas attorney general to take legal action to enforce it.
The Florida law would limit the ability of major platforms to exclude certain content by prohibiting censorship or banning of a political candidate or “journalistic enterprise”
Another issue raised in these cases was whether state laws unlawfully limited social media companies’ freedom of expression by requiring them to provide users with individualized explanations for certain content moderation decisions, including the removal of content messages from their platforms.
It is not the first time that the Supreme Court has dealt with the issue of freedom of expression in the digital age.
On March 15, the justices ruled that government officials can sometimes be sued under the First Amendment for blocking people who criticize them on social media. In another case, judges on June 26 refused to impose limits on how Joe Biden’s administration can communicate with social media platforms, rejecting a First Amendment challenge to how US officials have called for the removal of posts deemed misinformation, including about elections and COVID.
Florida tried to revive its law after the Atlanta-based 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in large part. The industry groups appealed a ruling by the New Orleans-based 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals that upheld the Texas law, which the Supreme Court had blocked earlier in the case.
Conservative critics of “Big Tech” have cited as an example of what they call censorship the decision by the platform formerly known as Twitter to suspend President Donald Trump’s account shortly after the attack on the Capitol by his supporters on January 6, 2021. the risk of further incitement to violence”
Trump’s account has since been reinstated by Elon Musk, who now owns the renamed company X. Trump is the Republican candidate challenging Biden, a Democrat, in the November 5 US election.
