Supreme Court decides major social media censorship case

The Supreme Court issued a 9-0 decision in a major social media censorship case dealing a blow to GOP-led states. The Republican-led states of Texas and Florida passed law to restrain Big Tech giants from moderating 'objectionable' material on their platforms.

The states said that the social media companies unlawfully tampered the free speech of users, particularly with conservative posts. The tech companies, on the other hand, said that the laws improperly limited their ability to exert 'editorial discretion' over the content on their sites.

Justice Elena Kagan wrote the majority opinion which puts the Republican states' social media laws on ice until the cases snake back through the court system. 'A State cannot prohibit speech to rebalance the speech market. That unadorned interest is not 'unrelated to the suppression of free expression,'' the court ruled Monday in the opinion by liberal Justice Elena Kagan.

Kagan wrote there is much work to do on the cases, but the work must be done consistent with the First Amendment. She noted how social media has transformed how people communicate but the courts still have a necessary role in protecting those entities and rights to speech as courts have done with traditional media's rights. Florida and Texas passed separate state laws in 2021 regulating large social media companies and other internet platforms.

The laws restricted the platforms ability to moderate whether and how third-party posts were presented to users. The laws also required platforms to provide an explanation to a user if it alters or removes a post. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton vowed to keep fighting on a post on X after the Supreme Court sent his case back to lower courts.

'I will keep fighting for our law that protects Texans’ voices. No American should be silenced by Big Tech oligarchs.' Florida's Attorney General Ashley Moody struck a more positive tone. 'We are pleased that SCOTUS agreed with Florida and rejected the lower court’s flawed reasoning—invalidating our social media law.'

'While there are aspects of the decision we disagree with, we look forward to continuing to defend state law.' NetChoice, a trade association which represents members such as Facebook and YouTube brought a challenge against both laws.

The Supreme Court ended up vacating decisions by appeals courts and remanded the cases for further proceedings. The Supreme Court's decision on Monday comes on the last day of the court's session before they head out on summer recess.

The decision comes a few days after the court also determined that the Biden administration can keep censoring social media posts on topics like COVID-19 and election security.

And in March, the Supreme Court ruled that public officials can block critics on social media in certain circumstances without violating constitutional protections for free speech.

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