When To Expect A Supreme Court Decision In Texas Fight With Social Media

Social media companies have been under the microscope a lot in the past several years. There have been many hearings, trials, and studies aimed at social media and its impact on us all. In Texas, there's a big fight over censorship and social media. The fight has gone all the way to the Supreme Court, and they're expected to issue a ruling by the end of the month.

What's All The Hub-Bub Between Texas And Social Media

It boils down to censorship and a bunch of allegations regarding it. Texas lawmakers passed HB 20 which is designed to make sure that Texans can't be "censored" on social media just because of their political views. It was framed as a law to protect the First Amendment rights of those living in the Lone Star State.

Social media companies argued that it infringes their First Amendment rights to be told that they can't remove content from their private platforms they deem as violent, hate speech, or misinformation. It's understandable considering everyone holds them accountable for allowing those types of things to be posted when it causes problems. We've seen that a lot in the news recently, too.

How The Fight Between Social Media And Texas Wound Up At The Supreme Court

When the bill was passed a lawsuit followed. We've seen this type of thing a lot lately. Originally, the judge sided with Texas on this one. The decision was that corporations don't have the First Amendment right to censor what people say. As you might suspect, an appeal followed.

The first time they were in front of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. The second time was in front of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. There, the judge sided with the social media companies saying that as private companies, they have the right to moderate content or make editorial judgments. Now we have what they call a "circuit split", and the Supreme Court is involved.

It's going to be interesting to see what the Supreme Court decides. I wonder if it will settle, once and for all, who is responsible for the stuff we see on social media; us or the companies providing the soapbox we all teeter on.