The Institute for Free Speech and Moms for Liberty (M4L) have filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to uphold certain provisions of Texas and Florida laws prohibiting social media platforms from censoring users’ viewpoints.
The laws aim to stop powerful tech companies like Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube from de-platforming or censoring users due to their ideological views while allowing the platforms to restrict certain types of content. The platforms challenged the laws, asserting the First Amendment protects all their activities.
As noted in the brief, the Institute and M4L agree that “social media platforms enjoy the fundamental First Amendment freedoms of speech and association, including the right to exercise editorial control over their own speech…. [Their rights] include the right to choose what kinds of services they wish to offer, and the right to empower their customers to control the type of content with which they interact.
“But laws barring viewpoint discrimination threaten none of these rights. They do not regulate the platforms’ own speech, nor do these provisions prevent the platforms’ users from choosing what speech they receive and with whom they interact. In addressing this problem, the states limit only the platforms’ power to censor the discrete speech of others based on viewpoint,” the brief explains.
To read the full amicus brief in the cases NetChoice v. Paxton and Moody v. NetChoice, click here. To read our full press release, click here.
