Florida's Big Tech censorship law is blocked -- for now. But the Supreme Court could determine whether Florida’s social media law is constitutional. 
Protocol reported that NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) reached a deal with Florida to ask the Supreme Court to step in.
NetChoice, a representative of TikTok, Amazon, Google, Facebook, and more, argued that the Florida law is unconstitutional.
“There are so many provisions between the Texas and Florida laws that are unconstitutional, and states are picking and choosing. Sometimes they’re doing a straight copy-paste,” NetChoice attorney Chris Marchese said, according to Protocol. “The sooner the Supreme Court lays out some guardrails on that, the better it’ll be for everyone.”
Earlier in the year, NewsBusters reported that the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of NetChoice and CCIA, and blocked part of the law.
“We hold that it is substantially likely that social-media companies — even the biggest ones — are 'private actors' whose rights the First Amendment protects," Judge Kevin Newsom wrote in the unanimous opinion.
"Put simply, with minor exceptions, the government can't tell a private person or entity what to say or how to say it," the judge added.
The judge also rejected the argument that social media platforms acted as “common carriers” and therefore had a greater responsibility to provide a platform for users.
“Social-media platforms have never acted like common carriers,” the judge wrote. “While it’s true that social-media platforms generally hold themselves open to all members of the public, they require users, as preconditions of access, to accept their terms of service and abide by their community standards."
The court also ruled in favor of the law and held that social media platforms must allow banned users to access their data stored on the platform’s servers for at least 60 days.
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said the ruling was a victory.
“We are pleased the court recognized the state’s authority to rein in social media companies and upheld major portions of Florida’s law leading the way in doing so," she tweeted at the time. "We will continue to vigorously defend Florida’s authority to demand accountability from Big Tech.”
Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
