Supreme Court to weigh state laws constraining social media companies

(Reuters) — The U.S. Supreme Court 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 that argue that these 2021 laws restricting the content-moderation practices of large social media platforms violate the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment protections of 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 laws are NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association, industry groups whose members include Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s Google, which owns YouTube, as well as TikTok and X, formerly called Twitter.

CCIA President Matt Schruers called the court’s decision to tackle the case encouraging.

“It is high time that the Supreme Court resolves whether governments can force websites to publish dangerous content. Telling private websites they must give equal treatment to extremist hate isn’t just unwise, it is unconstitutional, and we look forward to demonstrating that to the court,” Mr. Schruers said.

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 had told the justices in a court filing that the cases merited review because the state laws burdened the rights of the companies.