Republican AGs back Texas and Florida social media regulations at US Supreme Court

Social media companies should be treated as utilities such as telephone or local power companies, a group of states led by Republican attorneys general told the US Supreme Court on Monday.

Social media companies should be treated as utilities such as telephone or telegraph companies, a group of states led by Republican attorneys general told the US Supreme Court on Monday. In a friend-of-the-court brief, 19 states and the state legislature of Arizona wrote that the Supreme Court should uphold laws passed by Texas and Florida that restrict companies including Meta, YouTube, X and others from moderating the content that their users post online. Contested state laws forcing social media companies to carry all online speech are constitutional because tech platforms enjoy “hyperconcentration” of economic power, the group argued. The brief reflects broad conservative support for laws that have been presented as “anti-censorship” but that the tech industry has argued violate the First Amendment rights of social media companies to manage their own, private spaces. The high-stakes case could determine the future of social media moderation and online political speech and is expected to go to oral argument next month. The case could have implications on the posts that people and institutions make on social media during this presidential election cycle. In their brief, the states noted “striking similarities between social media companies and telegraph and telephones,” and that those similarities justify tough new rules barring discrimination on the basis of political viewpoint.