Florida and Texas seek to regulate social media sites they say are biased against conservatives. Will the Supreme Court allow them?
The Supreme Court said Friday it will rule on how the 1st Amendment applies to social media and decide whether Texas and Florida can impose heavy fines on Facebook, YouTube and other popular sites for allegedly discriminating against conservatives.
The law, adopted before billionaire Elon Musk purchased Twitter and changed its name to “X,” applies to social media sites with more than $100 million in annual revenue or more than 100 million users. At issue is the basic legal status of social media sites. Are they private companies with full free-speech rights to shape their content, similar to a newspaper or TV network?Or are they are “common carriers,” like telephone companies, with a duty to be equally open to all views and subject to government regulation?
Netchoice, a coalition of big internet firms that includes Amazon, Google and Meta, sued to block both laws along with the Computer & Communications Industry Assn. Shortly after Florida adopted its law, Texas passed a measure that says a social media platform with more than 50 million users in the United States “may not censor ... or otherwise discriminate against expression” of users based on their viewpoint.
Both state measures also require social media sites to disclose how they decide on removing information or users. That part of the Florida law was not blocked by the lower courts.
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