The Supreme Court Is Weighing Whether The First Amendment Applies To Meta, YouTube, Other Social Media Giants
Should social media companies have the right to censor content they deem problematic?
That’s the question being debated at the Supreme Court in a case that could have vast consequences for industry giants like Facebook and Instagram , owned by Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: META); YouTube , owned by Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and Elon Musk’s X, formerly known as Twitter.
DeSantis, Abbott Spark Free Speech Fight: Starting in May 2021, the saga began when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law a bill that prohibits social media companies from removing posts by their users. The law was aimed at preventing social media giants from banning political candidates in the run-up to elections.
The decision was made within the broader context of an ideological war existing at the heart of social media companies that crystallized in the suspension of Donald Trump‘s Twitter account after the Jan 6, 2021 attacks on the U.S. Capitol.
The dominant narrative among Florida Republicans is that social media companies should not have the right to decide what information users can or cannot share. Yet the backdrop was a concern that these companies are disproportionately suspending the accounts of Republican politicians and commentators.
“Today, Floridians are being guaranteed protection against the Silicon Valley power grab on speech, thought, and content,” DeSantis wrote at the time of signing the bill.
Florida’s decision was followed a few months later by a similar bill approved by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott that prohibited big tech companies from blocking users or banning posts based on their viewpoints. The law was aimed at the largest companies, as it applied specifically to social media companies with more than 50 million monthly active users in the U.S.
