On Friday a US appeals court upheld a Texas law that banned social media companies from banning users simply based upon the “viewpoint” they hold. The ruling is being called a setback by technology industry groups, which say their platforms could now he used to spread dangerous misinformation or other dangerous content.
In a 3-0 ruling by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in New Orleans, the court has now set the stage for the case to be sent to the Supreme Court, where conservative activists hope to see a ruling which would stop Big Tech from censoring their views on these platforms.
In the ruling, Judge Andrew Oldham, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, wrote, “Today we reject the idea that corporations have a freewheeling First Amendment right to censor what people say.”
The law was drafted and passed by the Republican-led legislature and signed by Republican Governor Gregg Abbott.
NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association, which counts Meta Platforms’ Facebook, Twitter and Alphabet Inc’s YouTube as members where the tech industry groups which challenged the law in the hopes their members could return to censoring content they deemed undesirable on their platforms.
The tech groups argued they needed to be allowed to regulate and censor user content if they believed it might lead to violence, lest unregulated platforms become havens for extremists such as Nazi supporters, terrorists, or hostile foreign governments.
The tech association said Friday that the government should not force the tech platforms to treat all viewpoints as the same. In a statement it said, “‘God Bless America’ and ‘Death to America’ are both viewpoints, and it is unwise and unconstitutional for the state of Texas to compel a private business to treat those the same.”
Conservatives meanwhile have argued the social media companies have been abusing the power to ban users, to try and control the political environment, citing Twitter banning President Donald J. Trump shortly after the Jan 6th protest led to protestors illegally entering the Capitol. In banning his account, Twitter cited “the risk of further incitement of violence” as the reason.
The law makes it illegal for a social media platform with more than 50 million users monthly from censoring users based upon their viewpoint, and allows users or the Texas Attorney General to sue to enforce the law.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton tweeted that the decision was a, “massive victory for the constitution and free speech.”
Due to a conflict between this ruling and another ruling in the 11th Circuit, there is a strong case for taking the ruling up to the United States Supreme Court.
A similar case in the 11th Circuit in Atlanta found that a similar law in Florida violated the rights of the companies to their own free speech, and thus the law could not be enforced.
