Texas asks SCOTUS to keep the state's social media law in effect; AG Ken Paxton argues that social media platforms should be regulated as common carriers
Texas’s law originated with a ban on viewpoint-based restrictions by social-media companies with at least 50 million monthly active users, a statewide attempt to constrain platform moderation. Days before this filing, industry groups representing Meta, Google, and others had asked the Court to block it as unconstitutional; Texas now advances a common-carrier rationale for preserving the law while that challenge proceeds.
Meta, Google, and the other represented platforms must defend their authority to restrict content against a legal theory that treats their services more like regulated conduits.
Second-order effects
A ruling that leaves the law in force would make viewpoint-based moderation a litigation exposure for covered platforms in Texas, shifting operational attention toward enforcing rules without triggering state claims.
The dispute gives other efforts to limit platform moderation a closely watched Supreme Court test, while industry groups press their constitutional challenge through the same case.
Third-order effects
If the common-carrier theory gains judicial acceptance, platform-governance rules would increasingly be contested as utility-style obligations rather than solely as companies’ editorial choices.
The case marks a broader structural conflict over whether large online platforms can set and enforce their own content rules when states seek viewpoint-neutral access requirements.
The trend: US platform governance is moving toward a Supreme Court test of whether large social-media services can be regulated as common carriers for content-moderation purposes.
The idea that social networks are akin to common carriers is laughable at best and dangerously stupid at worst. ISPs could be classified as such, but not social media. Texas fires back at tech industry in new Supreme Court filing https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
Awful and unconstitutional TX social media law would stop platforms from taking down racist hate speech like that posted by the Buffalo shooter. That's why we joined @ProgressChamber @NAACP @ADL and others in an emergency filing to the Supreme Court https://progresschamber.org/ .…
Update: Florida and 11 other states file brief supporting Texas. It's an early indication of how last week's ruling could embolden more states to pass their own social media laws. https://twitter.com/...
👀 ICYMI: Last night, @CenDemTech & @EFF led coalition of human rights orgs - @ncacensorship, @RSI, @WoodhullFreedom & @Wikimedia - asking #SCOTUS to stop Texas's social media law from taking immediate effect. * Release: https://cdt.org/... ** Brief: https://cdt.org/... https://tw…
The Supreme Court docket has already drawn a host of friend-of-the-court briefs, including from @EFF & @Wikimedia as well as @ADL & @NAACP, along with former Rep. Chris Cox, the original co-author of Section 230. https://www.cnn.com/...
My head is spinning from the circular arguments in TX's HB20 defense. If providers aren't publishers & are dumb pipes, what exactly is the statutory benefit 230 conveys in exchange for waiving the 1st A rights they supposedly don't have to start with? https://netchoice.org/...
Oh, so by the way, we told the Supreme Court to fix the 5th Circuit's decision stripping private companies of their editorial discretion. The Court should listen to us. https://www.techdirt.com/...
Big tech companies must be able to stem the spread of hateful and often violent content on their platforms. #HB20, if allowed to take effect, would prevent them from doing just that, making it easier for extremists to recruit and radicalize others. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Today, we and @ACLUTx have joined an amicus brief to the Supreme Court urging the court to block a Texas law which would prohibit social media platforms from moderating users' posts due to their content.
Texas' constitutionally questionable social media law, which lets the state dictate what platforms must publish, should not be enforced unless and until it is ruled constitutional. The Supreme Court should reinstate an order blocking it. https://www.eff.org/...
HB20 is terrible, full stop. We partnered with @TechFreedom to highlight for #SCOTUS some of the really vile content that HB20 would all but force social media platforms to leave up. Grab the brief below @hoganlovells https://twitter.com/...
Texas' filing in support of HB20 is basically chock full of Texas explaining why it must regulate social media, because it disagrees with their editorial policies. https://twitter.com/...
If HB 20 is allowed to take hold, that would mean a platform like Twitter wouldn't be able to remove content that it considers to be hateful or inaccurate. This is unconstitutional and we are fighting back to prevent Texas from further violating our rights! Cc: @ACLUTx https://tw…