The Texas Tribune
"The Supreme Court on Friday said it would wade into the future of free speech online and decide whether laws passed in Texas and Florida can restrict social media companies from removing certain political posts or accounts.
The justices’ decision to take the landmark social media cases came in an order that also added 10 other cases to the calendar for the Supreme Court term that begins on Monday. Earlier, the high court had said it would tackle controversial issues involving gun regulations, voting rights and the power of federal agencies. Those cases will be heard as the justices are under intense pressure from Democratic lawmakers to address ethics issues facing some of their colleagues, including potential conflicts in some of the cases.
Tech industry groups, whose members include Facebook and Google’s YouTube, asked the court to block Texas and Florida laws passed in 2021 that regulate companies’ content-moderation policies. The companies say the measures are unconstitutional and conflict with the First Amendment by stripping private companies of the right to choose what to publish on their platforms.
The court’s review of those laws will be the most high-profile examination to date of allegations that Silicon Valley companies are illegally censoring conservative viewpoints. Those accusations reached a fever pitch when Facebook, Twitter and other companies suspended former Donald Trump’s accounts in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.”
This article was originally posted on The Texas Tribune.
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