The Supreme Court on Monday overturned two court decisions on Republican-backed laws in Florida and Texas that aimed to limit the ability of social media companies to moderate content on their platforms.
The Supreme Court sent the two cases back to the lower courts for further review, noting that the lower courts failed to properly analyze the First Amendment challenges to the laws.
“The question in such a case is whether the unconstitutional applications of the law are substantial compared to its constitutional applications,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote in the Unconstitutional Law case. the decision“In order to make this judgment, the court must identify the full range of applications that the law might have, assess which of them are constitutional and which are unconstitutional, and compare each of them with the other. Neither court has made this necessary inquiry.”
Both laws were passed in 2021 and were intended to address complaints from conservatives who believed social media companies like Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) were illegally censoring conservative political views. Concerns grew when Facebook and X suspended former President Donald Trump’s accounts in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
The laws are intended to prevent social media companies from removing certain political posts or accounts. The cases have the potential to determine whether social media companies should be able to determine how to manage hate speech, election-related misinformation, and spam on their own platforms.
NetChoice, a tech industry lobbying group, sued to overturn the laws, arguing that they violate social media platforms’ freedom of expression. The group alleged that the laws give the government too much power over content posted on privately owned social media platforms.
Lower courts have issued differing rulings on the two laws, with key provisions of the Florida law blocked while the Texas law was upheld. However, neither law has gone into effect and both have been put on hold pending a decision by the Supreme Court.