Biden Admin Pushes Supreme Court To Rule Against Red State Laws Blocking Online Censorship
Jason Cohen on August 15, 2023
President Joe Biden’s administration in a Monday amicus brief pushed the Supreme Court to rule against Republican-led states’ laws that prevent online censorship.
Florida and Texas have enacted laws to stop Big Tech platforms from censoring content due to viewpoint, and the Biden administration asked for the Supreme Court to review them, according to the brief. Specifically, the Biden administration requested for the Supreme Court to rule against the states’ laws and in favor of social media companies’ right to censor.
“The platforms’ content-moderation activities are protected by the First Amendment,” U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar wrote in the Biden administration’s brief. “Given the torrent of content created on the platforms, one of their central functions is to make choices about which content will be displayed to which users, in which form and which order.”
Florida’s bill prohibits social media platforms from “willfully deplatform[ing] a candidate” for public office and enables Florida to fine a platform $250,000 per day, according to the brief. Texas’ bill broadly blocks platforms with more than 50 million monthly American users from engaging in viewpoint censorship, according to the brief.
The bills are similar but not the same, and the brief requests the Supreme Court to hear cases on both laws.
Western District of Louisiana Judge Terry A. Doughty granted a broad injunction preventing the Biden administration from colluding with social media companies to censor content in the free speech lawsuit Missouri v. Biden in July.
The White House and DOJ did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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