Lower courts will handle social media moderation cases, as the Supreme Court sends them back.

• The Supreme Court on Monday sent issues related to social media content moderation back to lower courts for additional examination.
• Republican lawmakers in Texas and Florida have passed legislation aimed at preventing tech companies from suppressing conservative viewpoints.
• The Supreme Court overturned previous decisions on the laws and asserted that the lower courts had not conducted thorough evaluations.

The Supreme Court on Monday struck down two state laws that sought to restrict tech companies' ability to ban users for potentially harmful speech, prolonging a debate over whether Republicans can challenge what they see as censorship by leading social media platforms.

The court remanded the case to lower courts for reconsideration, stating that the prior decisions did not adequately examine whether the content moderation regulations would violate the Constitution in all situations.

The legislation passed in Texas and Florida aims to prevent tech companies such as Meta, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube from suppressing conservative viewpoints, according to Republican lawmakers. While the states argue that the laws promote equal access to the platforms for all users, the tech companies, represented by groups including NetChoice, contend that the measures infringe on their right to free speech.

Justice Elena Kagan wrote the majority opinion, with no dissents. She argued that the lower courts had not considered how the laws would apply to websites and apps other than social media platforms such as Facebook, specifically mentioning Etsy.

Kagan wrote that today, both decisions were vacated due to reasons different from the First Amendment merits, as neither Court of Appeals adequately considered the facial nature of NetChoice's challenge.

In 2021, Texas and Florida enacted laws in response to former President Donald Trump's ban from Twitter due to inflammatory posts about the 2020 presidential election and the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. Trump is currently the leading Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential race.

Before Elon Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion in 2022, the laws in Texas and Florida were already enacted. Musk later allowed Trump to return to Twitter in November.