Aug. 14 (Reuters) – President Joe Biden’s administration is fighting a battle over Republican-backed laws in Texas and Florida that would undermine efforts by social media companies to curb content deemed offensive on their platforms. filed with the Federal Supreme Court.
States call this action unacceptable censorship.
The justices decided on two cases involving challenges to state laws brought by technology industry groups including NetChoice, whose members include Meta Platforms (META.O), Alphabet (GOOGL.O) and others, and the former Twitter company X. We are considering taking up the issue.
Supporters of the law, which was passed in 2021, argue that social media platforms have silenced conservative voices, while advocates of content moderation argue that they have been linked to misinformation and extremist claims. He insists on the need to stop acts that defend the
Florida is seeking to reinstate the law after lower courts largely ruled against it, but industry groups support the Texas law, which the Supreme Court blocked early in the case. The court is appealing another lower court’s decision.
Asked to consider the controversy, the Justice Department said Monday that these cases merit reconsideration because the law burdens platforms’ rights under the First Amendment, which protects free speech. Then he said.
“When a social media platform selects, edits, or arranges third-party speech for presentation to the public, the platform engages in activities protected by the First Amendment,” the Justice Department said in a brief. It will happen,” he said.
The case will test industry groups’ arguments that the First Amendment protects platforms’ editorial discretion and prohibits the government from forcing platforms to publish content against their will.
The companies said that without editorial discretion, their websites would be flooded with spam, bullying, extremism and hate speech.
Florida’s law discourages major platforms from “hosting speech they otherwise would not want to host” by publishing their censorship rules and prohibiting them from banning any political candidate. It is mandatory. Texas law prohibits censoring users based on “viewpoints.”
Reported by Andrew Chan in New York.Editing: Sonali Paul
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