The United States Supreme Court on Tuesday temporarily blocked a law passed in Texas that restricts the ability of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to ban or demote posts or users on their platforms.
In a close 5-4 vote, the justices granted an emergency request by two tech industry associations to block a lower court order that would have allowed the law to go into effect.
The associations point out that the law could cause a wave of hate messages and speech on the affected platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and Twitter.
According to court documents, they called the law “an unprecedented assault on editorial discretion on private websites.” They further warned that its application could force platforms to spread all kinds of objectionable views, such as Russian propaganda justifying the invasion of Ukraine, ISIS propaganda claiming its extremist actions are justified, neo-Nazi or KKK diatribes giving his point of view on the Holocaust.
Meanwhile, Texas legislators argued that the law does not violate the First Amendment, which states that Congress cannot make laws regarding the establishment of religion or prohibit the free practice of religion, nor limit freedom of expression or the press. Neither does the right to peaceful assembly of people, nor request compensation from the government for grievances.
This argument is given because the law does not regulate the editorial capacity of these companies, but rather affects only the way they treat their users.
However, critics of this law consider that it affects the ability of companies to apply their editorial criteria on the content that is published.
In April, after the announcement of the purchase of Twitter by Elon Musk, the White House asked the US Congress approve new regulations that force companies in social networks to account for the “damage they cause”.
1200With information from EFE / CNN Business