The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday issued a decision overturning Texas and Florida laws that sought to regulate social media companies.
The decision in question revolves around NetChoice, LLC v. Paxton. The case focuses on Texas House Bill 20, passed during the state's 2021 legislative session, which would force social media companies to promote all sides of each topic.
Texas claims sites like X, formerly Twitter, and Facebook routinely censor conservative points of view.
"If you choose to do business in Texas, then this provision kicks in and you can't discriminate against people after you've chosen to do business in Texas based on the status in Texas," Texas Solicitor General Aaron Neilson argued before the Supreme Court earlier this year.
A lawyer for the social media companies said the law would force platforms to promote both sides of literally everything.
"If you have to be viewpoint neutral, that means that if you have materials that are involved suicide prevention, you also have to have materials that advocate suicide promotion," attorney Paul Clement said. "Or if you have materials on your site that are pro-Semitic, then you have to let materials onto your site that are antisemitic."
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