Moody v. NetChoice, LLC. and Netchoice, LLC. v. Paxton. (U.S. Supreme Court, 2023)

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has recently filed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court of the United States in Moody v. NetChoice, LLC. and Netchoice, LLC. v. Paxton. These cases concern two state statutes enacted in 2021 to regulate large social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter). Florida’s S.B. 7072 and Texas’ H.B. 20 each include provisions restricting social media companies’ ability to moderate harmful content on their platforms and infringing on the constitutional right of private actors to exercise editorial discretion in choosing the content they host. This amicus brief, filed in support of neither party, emphasizes the importance of upholding social media companies’ right to moderate hate and harassment on their platforms and underscores the potential harm to online safety and historically marginalized communities if an alternative holding is adopted. However, it also acknowledges the active role that social media companies must play in combating hate, harassment, and extremism on their platforms and explores permissible avenues by which governmental actors can combat the forms of online hate that escalate into offline violence. Finally, this brief reminds the Court that Florida’s S.B. 7072 and Texas’ H.B. 20 are inconsistent with Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, while acknowledging the need for updates to this legislation to align with the current landscape of the internet and online harms.