Global: Biden Administration Urges Supreme Court to Review Social Media Content Laws

The Biden administration has called upon the U.S. Supreme Court to examine the legality of social media laws in Texas and Florida, which are supported by Republicans and challenge the content moderation efforts of social media companies on their platforms.

Texas and Florida assert that such actions amount to undue censorship.

The Supreme Court is contemplating the consideration of two cases related to these state laws, brought forward by technology industry associations including NetChoice, which counts Meta Platforms Inc (formerly Facebook) and Alphabet Inc (Google) among its members.

These laws, passed in 2021, have been defended by proponents who argue that social media platforms have suppressed conservative viewpoints. On the other hand, advocates for content moderation emphasize the necessity of curbing misinformation and extremist content.

The state of Florida is seeking to revalidate its law following an initial unfavorable lower court ruling. Meanwhile, industry groups are appealing against a separate lower court decision that upheld the Texas law, which was initially halted by the Supreme Court during the earlier stages of the legal process.

In response to the invitation to weigh in on the matter, the Justice Department stated on Monday that the cases warrant review due to the laws potentially infringing upon the platforms’ rights under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which safeguards freedom of speech.

The Justice Department explained in a written brief, “When a social media platform selects, edits, and arranges third-party speech for presentation to the public, it engages in activity protected by the First Amendment.”

The cases present a test for the industry associations’ argument that the First Amendment shields platforms’ editorial discretion and prevents governments from compelling them to display content against their will.

The tech companies have contended that without editorial discretion, their platforms would become inundated with spam, bullying, extremism, and hate speech.

Florida’s law mandates large platforms to “host some speech that they might otherwise prefer not to host” by disclosing their censorship policies and prohibiting the prohibition of any political candidates. Similarly, Texas’ law prohibits the censoring of users based on their “viewpoint.”