A Texas federal judge ruled that a law restricting social media platform regulation of user content violated their First Amendment rights. (Ars Technica, December 2, 2021, by Jon Brodkin)
Texas legislators passed the law to keep Facebook, Twitter and YouTube from censoring conservative content. They were especially motivated by the suspension of former President Donald Trump in the wake of the January 6 attack on the Capitol. (USA Today, December 2, 2021, by Jessica Guynn)
“[House Bill] 20[the Texas social media law] would unleash a tidal wave of offensive content and hate speech crashing onto users, creators, and advertisers,” said Steve DelBianco of a social media trade group that was part of the challenge to the law. “Thanks to the decision made today, social media can continue providing high-quality services to Americans while simultaneously keeping them safe from irresponsible users and offensive content.” HuffPost, December 2, 2021, by Sebastin Murdock)
Supreme Court rulings beginning in 1974, wrote Robert Pitman, the federal judge in the case, “stand for the general proposition that private companies that use editorial judgment to choose whether to publish content—and, if they do publish content, use editorial judgment to choose what they want to publish—cannot be compelled by the government to publish other content. That proposition has repeatedly been recognized by courts.” (Reason, December 3, 2021, by Jacob Sullum)