Two contrasting views on freedom of speech are set to clash at the Supreme Court of the United States.
When it was still known as Twitter, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was openly critical of the social media platform. In May 2021, he celebrated the signing of Senate Bill 7072 as a blow against censorship. He emphasized that while residents of Cuba and Venezuela may suffer from “tyrannical behavior,” Floridians will now have “guaranteed protection against the Silicon Valley elites.” Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Nuñez added that the law would rescue discourse from a “radical leftist narrative” by “taking back the virtual public square.”
Fast forward to May 2023, with Twitter rebranded and under Elon Musk’s ownership, Mr. DeSantis chose to launch his ill-fated presidential campaign on the platform, and Twitter’s content moderation has been revamped. However, Senate Bill 7072 and a similar law, House Bill 20, enacted in Texas in September 2021, remain in effect. Challenges to both laws, based on the free-speech guarantee of the First Amendment, are scheduled to be heard by the Supreme Court on February 26th.
The plaintiffs in NetChoice v Paxton and Moody v NetChoice argue that Texas and Florida are unconstitutionally interfering with private companies’ decision-making regarding the content they host on their platforms. NetChoice represents major companies such as Twitter, Facebook, Google (owner of YouTube), and TikTok, as well as smaller platforms like Etsy and Pinterest. It contends that “governmental efforts to interfere with the editorial discretion of private parties is forbidden censorship.”
2024-02-23 13:55:25
Source from www.economist.com