The lawsuit states that the new law, signed earlier this month by Gov. Greg Abbott, would violate social media companies’ rights under the First Amendment and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. They say it would seriously hamper their ability to crack down on dangerous content on their platforms like misinformation and violent hate speech.
Why is Big Tech suing Texas?
Answer: Because of a new state law about social media.
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The Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) and NetChoice, two major technology trade groups that represent some of the biggest names in the industry, have co-filed a lawsuit against the state of Texas. The reason? A new piece of state legislation, House Bill 20, called the Freedom from Censorship Act.
The lawsuit states that the new law, signed earlier this month by Gov. Greg Abbott, would violate social media companies’ rights under the First Amendment and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. They say it would seriously hamper their ability to crack down on dangerous content on their platforms like misinformation and violent hate speech.
“At a minimum, HB 20 would unconstitutionally require platforms like YouTube and Facebook to disseminate, for example, pro-Nazi speech, terrorist propaganda, foreign government disinformation, and medical misinformation,” says the lawsuit. “In fact, legislators rejected amendments that would explicitly allow platforms to exclude vaccine misinformation, terrorist content and Holocaust denial.”
The lawsuit states that the new law, signed earlier this month by Gov. Greg Abbott, would violate social media companies’ rights under the First Amendment and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. They say it would seriously hamper their ability to crack down on dangerous content on their platforms like misinformation and violent hate speech.
