The U.S. Supreme Court held that the Fifth and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeals failed to adequately analyze the facial First Amendment challenges to the constitutionality of laws enacted by Florida and Texas regulating content moderation on social media platforms. The states of Florida and Texas enacted two laws limiting content moderation on digital platforms and social networks, prohibiting “censorship” based on users’ views, and requiring companies to provide detailed explanations to users about content moderation decisions. Petitioner NetChoice—a coalition of companies that own digital platforms and social networks—filed a facial challenge to these laws, arguing that they violated the First Amendment. The states of Florida and Texas argued that the rules were designed to balance the marketplace of ideas on social networks. Two separate district courts granted preliminary injunctions halting the enforcement of both laws. The Eleventh Circuit Court affirmed the injunction against the law in Florida, holding that it likely violated the First Amendment. At the same time, the Fifth Circuit Court vacated the injunction against the law in Texas, arguing that content moderation is a form of censorship, not a form of speech protected by the First Amendment.
The U.S. Supreme Court reversed both circuit courts’ decisions and remanded the cases for further proceedings, emphasizing that the First Amendment protects the editorial discretion of social media platforms. The Court considered that a facial First Amendment challenge to a statute requires the petitioner to demonstrate that a substantial portion of the statute’s applications is unconstitutional. In this regard, the Court held that the broad scope of the contested laws, which deal with various activities beyond content moderation, required a more precise analysis to determine their constitutionality. In addition, the Court held that altering the private editorial decisions of social media platforms violated the First Amendment, which prohibits the government from imposing its own prerogatives regarding the proper balance of ideas on the private sector.