U.S. Supreme Court justices expressed reservations Monday about Republican-backed laws in Florida and Texas that are intended to restrict the power of social media companies to curb content they deem objectionable, but signaled they may not be ready to block them in their entirety.
During nearly four hours of arguments in the cases, the justices expressed concern that the laws could undermine the editorial discretion of the platforms in violation of free speech protections. But they also indicated they might permit the laws to regulate certain nonexpressive internet services such as the provision of email, direct messaging or car-sharing.
The laws were challenged by tech industry trade groups NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association, whose members include Facebook parent Meta, Alphabet's Google, which owns YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat owner Snap. Neither law has taken effect.