US Court Blocks Florida Social Media Regulations - Filing

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th May, 2022) A US Federal appeals court ruled that some of Florida's restrictions on social media, including a ban on de-platforming candidates, are unconstitutional because they violate the free speech protections afforded private actors, court documents revealed.

In May of last year, Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law a bill that aimed to stop big tech companies like Facebook and Twitter from censoring content and de-platforming political candidates. The law was partly prompted by Twitter's ban on former President Donald Trump.

"We hold that it is substantially likely that social-media companies - even the biggest ones - are 'private actors' whose rights the First Amendment protects... that their so-called 'content-moderation' decisions constitute protected exercises of editorial judgment," the ruling from the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit said on Monday.

"The provisions of the new Florida law that restrict large platforms' ability to engage in content moderation unconstitutionally burden that prerogative."

The law requires the Florida Election Commission to impose fines of $250,000 per day on any social media company that de-platforms any candidate for statewide office, and $25,000 per day for de-platforming candidates for non-statewide offices.

The court said the de-platforming ban clearly restricts editorial judgment and forces platforms to disseminate messages they find objectionable, in violation of the First Amendment.

The decision actually comes on appeal after a Florida federal district court in June ruled along similar lines.

The lawsuit was filed by an industry association, NetChoice, which represents Facebook, Twitter, Google, and TikTok.