US Supreme Court to hear cases over free speech and social media

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The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to hear a pair of cases asking it to decide whether controversial social media laws in Texas and Florida violate free-speech rights by prohibiting platforms such as Meta and TikTok from taking down certain content and accounts. 

In Texas, the so-called censorship law seeks to prevent Big Tech platforms from moderating content based on a user’s political viewpoint. A similar Florida law would make it illegal for platforms to ban politicians. Both measures were introduced by Republican lawmakers, who argue that Silicon Valley social media groups have been disproportionately censoring conservative voices. 

Several technology trade associations challenged the laws as unconstitutional and in violation of the First Amendment, which prohibits government interference in free speech. Last year, the tech groups petitioned the Supreme Court to hear both cases following conflicting rulings from federal appeals courts. The high court temporarily blocked enactment of the laws while it decided whether to do so. 

In agreeing to hear the cases on Friday, the Supreme Court could deliver a landmark ruling on online free speech, shaping the future balance between a platform’s right to decide on the content they wish to host versus the rights of individual users’ speech.

The matter has increasingly sparked clashes in Washington since Donald Trump and his allies began alleging that Republicans were being silenced by liberal tech groups. The former president himself was suspended or banned by many big platforms following the January 6 2021 storming of the Capitol building.

Tech associations, including NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association, and critics of the state laws also argue that the rules would allow potentially harmful misinformation, hate speech and extremism to flourish on the platforms. 

Joe Biden’s administration has urged the Supreme Court to hear the cases, arguing the laws are in violation of the First Amendment. 

This month, the Supreme Court was asked to weigh in on another social media case over whether president Biden’s administration should be blocked from asking platforms to restrict certain content, such as what it deems coronavirus misinformation. The Biden administration said it was merely notifying the platforms of violations to their existing policies.