The Supreme Court on Monday remanded back to lower courts challenges to red states’ social media laws aimed at curtailing censorship.

The justices said both the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the 11th Circuit got it wrong in how they analyzed Texas and Florida’s laws aimed at big tech and squashing censorship online.

“The questions of whether, when, and how to regulate online entities, and in particular the social-media giants, are understandably on the front-burner of many legislatures and agencies,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote for the court.” And those government actors will generally be better positioned than courts to respond to the emerging challenges social-media entities pose.”

“But courts still have a necessary role in protecting those entities’ rights of speech, as courts have historically protected traditional media’s rights,” Justice Kagan added.

The cases before the justices involved laws in Texas and Florida that would limit social media companies’ ability to censor users.

The red states enacted the laws in 2021 amid controversy over the 2020 presidential election and censorship disputes over the COVID-19 pandemic when Twitter, Facebook and YouTube were scouring their sites for content they deemed inappropriate, inaccurate or harmful.

The social media giants had aimed to limit the reach of posts questioning coronavirus vaccination and the virus potentially originating at a Chinese laboratory.

Additionally, Twitter had blocked access to a New York Post article about Hunter Biden’s laptop. The social media company wrongly claimed the laptop and its contents were Russian disinformation.

NetChoice, an advocacy group that challenged the states’ laws in each case, argued that the social media companies are private and so are their decisions. The group said the decisions are a form of speech that must be protected and can’t be policed by state governments.

The Texas law prohibited social media companies from removing and moderating content that some may find offensive or hateful. It also required disclosure of some business practices, such as algorithms used to promote content.

Florida’s law called for fines of up to $250,000 per day for large social media companies that de-platform political candidates.

One federal appeals court had upheld Texas’ law, and another had ruled against Florida’s law.

Both laws were put on hold while the Supreme Court considered the issue.

• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.

• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.