The Supreme Court has blocked Texas’s social media “censorship” law, HB 20, after two tech industry groups, NetChoice and CCIA, filed an emergency application asking the court to take the case up on its shadow docket last week.
The emergency filing came after a 5th Circuit court lifted an injunction on the law, allowing it to go into effect with potentially catastrophic consequences for the tech industry. More than 30 groups filed amicus briefs in support of NetChoice and CCIA since last week, and the court has sided with them.
The court decided to overturn the 5th Circuit's decision by a 5-4 vote, with Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch writing a dissent.
“Despite Texas’s best efforts to run roughshod over the First Amendment, it came up short in the Supreme Court,” said Chris Marchese, counsel at NetChoice.
“We are encouraged that this attack on First Amendment rights has been halted until a court can fully evaluate the repercussions of Texas’s ill-conceived statute,” CCIA president Matt Schruers said in a statement.
HB 20 bans social media platforms from moderating content based on users' “viewpoint.” The statute is aimed at punishing online services for what Republicans insist is censorship of conservative content — an approach that has raised significant constitutional concerns and could undermine platforms’ years of efforts to tackle hate speech and harmful misinformation.
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