[Thread] Texas' and Florida's online speech rules for platforms cannot be justified, as less restrictive tools that give users control over online content exist
There was an amazing outpouring of S. Ct. amicus briefs opposing Texas's and Florida's online speech regulations yesterday. Here's what mine's about. 1/
Context & Ripple Effects
The briefs enter a Supreme Court dispute that was already elevated when the Court agreed to hear whether Florida and Texas may limit platforms’ removal of political posts and accounts the Court’s decision to take the platform-moderation cases.
They sharpen an argument also relevant to the administration’s earlier request for review the federal government’s call for Supreme Court review: user-facing controls may address concerns about online content without dictating platforms’ editorial decisions.
First-order effects
- The amicus filings give the Court a developed less-restrictive-means argument against the states’ moderation limits, centered on tools that let users choose or filter content.
- Platforms, Texas, and Florida must address whether user control can meet the states’ stated aims while preserving platforms’ discretion over what they host or remove.
Second-order effects
- The litigation frames product-level filtering, feed controls, and content preferences as potential alternatives to state mandates over moderation, increasing their relevance to the legal record.
- Other states considering platform rules may need to distinguish user-empowerment measures from laws that directly constrain a service’s moderation choices.
Third-order effects
- If courts treat user-control tools as meaningful alternatives, platform-governance policy could shift toward interface and choice requirements rather than compelled carriage or moderation restrictions.
- The cases may establish how far states can regulate large online intermediaries without crossing into constitutionally protected editorial judgment; the outcome remains unsettled.
The trend: This is part of a broader shift from regulating platforms’ moderation outcomes toward regulating the controls users have over their online experience.