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The
law, which had been challenged by industry group NetChoice,
would require social media companies to disclose the rules they
use for banning or censoring users and to apply them
consistently, and would limit their ability to ban candidates
for political office from their platforms.
NetChoice's members include Facebook and Instagram owner Meta
Platforms Inc, Google parent Alphabet Inc and Twitter Inc.
The ruling comes days after a different federal appeals court,
the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, allowed
a similar Texas law that had also been challenged by NetChoice
to take effect.
Florida argued that the conflict between the 5th Circuit and the
Atlanta-based 11th Circuit, which struck down the Florida law,
must be resolved by the nation's top court.
NetChoice general counsel Carl Szabo said in a statement that
the group agreed the case should be heard by the Supreme Court,
and was confident it would prevail.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, signed the state
law in May 2021, saying it was needed to prevent "censorship" by
"Big Tech." The move came as many Republicans criticized
Facebook and Twitter for banning former President Donald Trump
after he praised supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan.
6, 2021.
Tech groups have sought to preserve rights to regulate user
content when they believe it may lead to violence, citing
concerns that unregulated platforms will enable extremists such
as Nazi supporters, terrorists and hostile foreign governments.
The 11th Circuit in May found that most of the law violated the
social media companies' right to free speech under the First
Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, upholding a lower court
judge's ruling.
Also in May, the Supreme Court, by a 5-4 vote, temporarily
blocked the Texas law while lower courts considered NetChoice's
challenge. Conservative Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas
and Neil Gorsuch said in a dissent that it was not clear how the
First Amendment should apply to large social media companies.
(Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York, Editing by Alexia
Garamfalvi and Bill Berkrot)
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