Social Media Giants Face Fresh Scrutiny From Conservative Justices

Social media companies’ immunity from legal liability came under scrutiny at the Supreme Court on Feb. 26. Conservative justices questioned whether the platforms’ protection under communications law prevented them from claiming First Amendment protection for content moderation. Their comments came during oral argument in Moody v. Netchoice and Netchoice v. Paxton—two high-profile cases reviewing the constitutionality of Texas’ and Florida’s broad laws regulating social media platforms. Netchoice, an organization representing platforms like Facebook, and the Biden administration told the justices that their content moderation (deplatforming, shadow banning, censoring content, etc.) was a form of expressive speech protected by the First Amendment....