MIAMI (EFE).— The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday avoided ruling on whether new laws in Florida and Texas that limit how social media companies regulate content violate the First Amendment, and returned the case to lower courts for further review.
NetChoice, the plaintiff in both Republican-backed laws, failed to prove they were unconstitutional, the U.S. Supreme Court said.
Liberal Justice Elena Kagan issued the high court opinion, which dismissed the lower court rulings and remanded the two cases for further proceedings.
He said none of the lower courts conducted a proper analysis of the First Amendment challenges to the laws regulating major social media platforms.
In 2021, Florida and Texas passed laws to regulate the content moderation practices of large social media companies.
The idea was to control how these platforms filter, prioritize and label user-generated content, and to require them to provide individualized explanations for the removal or modification of content.
NetChoice, a trade association representing major social media companies like Facebook and YouTube, challenged the laws, arguing they violated the First Amendment.
The Eleventh Circuit Court upheld an injunction once morest the Florida law and agreed with NetChoice that the restrictions likely violated First Amendment rights.
The court applied heightened scrutiny and concluded that the content moderation and individualized explanation requirements were unlikely to survive. The Fifth Circuit ruled similarly on the Texas law.
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2024-07-09 10:04:15
