The Supreme Court has voted 5-4 to block Texas social media censorship law, a big help for tech companies that have been fighting content moderation laws that would fundamentally change the way they do business.
Why it matters: Conservative states have waged a legal war against social media companies in an attempt to curb what they see as a wave of censorship, but that decision, like other recent rulings, suggests they are facing a court-martial. .
What’s up: The Supreme Court ruling means Texas can’t enforce a new law that would allow Texans and the state’s attorney general to sue tech giants like Meta and YouTube for their content moderation policies.
- Court order is not a final decision on the merits of Texas law, but when courts freeze a particular law or policy, it is often a sign that the measure is facing a difficult path in the background.
- It comes just days after a federal court of appeals ruled against a similar law in Florida.
Get up to date quickly: Texas passed its law last September, and opponents immediately challenged it in federal court, gaining a precautionary measure that suspended it from coming into force.
- But earlier this month, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the law could go into effect immediately.
- Opponents appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court and won.
Details: Judges Amy Coney Barrett, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, Brett Kavanaugh and Chief Justice John Roberts voted in favor of reinstating the lower court requirement and preventing the law from coming into force.
- Judges Neil Gorsuch, Elena Kagan, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas voted against.
- Alito wrote a dissent, arguing: “It’s not at all obvious how our existing precedents, which predate the Internet age, should apply to large social media companies.”
What happens next: the case goes back to the district court, where arguments will be made by both parties on the merits.