Tech Industry Suit Against Fla. Social Media Law Returns to District Court
The tech industry renewed its fight against a Florida social media law in district court Friday following a remand from the U.S. Supreme Court (see 2407010053). The law’s challenged provisions are “facially unconstitutional,” NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry…
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Association said in an amended complaint at the U.S. District Court for Northern Florida (case 4:21-cv-00220). The 2021 Florida law “seeks to punish select private parties for exercising editorial discretion in ways the state disfavors,” said the tech groups’ amended complaint. While Florida had defended the law “on the theory that websites like Facebook and YouTube do not engage in First Amendment activity when they make decisions about what content to disseminate and how to arrange and organize it,” the Supreme Court “laid that argument to rest,” they said. While the state may criticize websites’ moderation decisions, “the First Amendment prohibits the state from overriding those editorial judgments and substituting its own,” NetChoice and CCIA said. “Florida has identified no other interest that could justify [the social media law], and the provisions of the law at issue here are not remotely tailored to any interest it might come up with.”