During several hours of arguments today, the Supreme Court appeared skeptical of laws in Florida and Texas that ban major social media companies from making editorial judgments about which messages to allow. The justices seemed to align more closely with the social media companies, which accused the laws of violating the First Amendment.
The court’s decision, which is expected in June, will almost certainly be its most important statement on the scope of free speech in the internet era.
A ruling in favor of the states would expose users to a greater variety of viewpoints but would almost certainly amplify the ugliest aspects of the digital age, including hate speech and disinformation. A ruling in favor of the social media platforms seemed more likely, though the justices seemed poised to return the cases to the lower courts to answer questions about how other websites — like Gmail, Venmo and Uber — should be allowed to moderate users’ speech.
Supporters of the laws said that they were an attempt to combat any Silicon Valley censorship of conservative views, prompted in part by the decisions of some platforms to bar Donald Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.