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Next week, the Supreme Court will hear arguments for two cases that could determine the fate of social media content moderation.
In 2021, the states of Florida and Texas both passed laws that aim to address social media sites’ content moderation practices and their perceived bias against conservative viewpoints. The cases being heard in the Supreme Court next week were both filed by industry groups representing the social media sites, who argue that the laws infringe on their First Amendment rights to decide what content they publish and promote.
If the laws are upheld, then the platforms’ ability to curate their newsfeeds to make them more engaging for users could be severely curtailed, drastically altering social media sites. Whichever way the Court rules, the outcomes of the two cases could set the precedent for how content moderation is handled in the U.S. for decades to come.
What are the cases about?
In 2021, both Florida and Texas passed laws that would limit the power of the largest social media companies to moderate and curate content on their platforms. Republicans across the U.S. have grown increasingly frustrated by censorship on major social media sites. The legislatures of both Florida and Texas are Republican-controlled.
Florida’s Senate Bill 7072, which was signed by Governor Ron DeSantis in May 2021, prohibits social media platforms from “willfully deplatforming a candidate,” a reference to both X (at the khbrknews named Twitter) and Meta locking President Donald Trump out of his accounts on their platforms after his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 that year. The law also requires platforms to publish the criteria they use for banning users and content, and to apply these criteria consistently. Floridians would be able to sue social media platforms for violating the new law.
Texas’ House Bill 20 was signed by Governor Greg Abbott in September 2021. The bill prohibits censorship based on a user’s viewpoint, the viewpoint…
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