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AUSTIN, Texas – A federal appeals court on Friday ruled in favor of a Texas law targeting major social media companies like Facebook and Twitter, in a victory for Republicans who accuse the platforms of censoring conservative speech.
But the decision of the 5th U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans is unlikely to be the final word in a legal battle beyond Texas and could affect how some of the world’s biggest tech companies edit content by their users.
The Texas law, signed last year by Republican Government Greg Abbott, has been challenged by tech trade groups, who warn that it will prevent platforms from removing extremism and hate speech. A similar law was passed in Florida and found unconstitutional by a separate appellate court.
The final word is likely to come from the US Supreme Court, which blocked Texas law while the case was pending earlier this year.
“Today, we reject the idea that corporations have a free First Amendment right to censor what people say,” said U.S. Circuit Court Judge Andrew Oldham.
NetChoice, one of the groups opposing the law, expressed disappointment in a statement pointing out that the decision was the opposite of the decision made in the Florida law case.
“We were convinced that websites, platforms, and apps would support First Amendment rights when the U.S. Supreme Court heard one of our cases,” said Carl Szabo, NetChoice’s vice president and general counsel.
Republican elected officials in some states supported legislation similar to those in Florida and Texas, which sought to portray social media companies as generally liberal and hostile to outside ideas, particularly from the political right.
Judge Samuel Alito wrote in May that it wasn’t clear how the high court applied to Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and other digital platforms in former First Amendment cases, many of which predate the internet age.
Florida law, as it goes into effect, will empower Florida’s attorney general to sue companies under the state’s Deceptive and Unfair Trading Practices Act. It will also allow individual residents to sue social media companies for up to $100,000 if they feel they have been wronged.
Texas law only applies to the largest social media platforms with more than 50,000 active users.
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