In May of this year, Florida enacted a law imposing severe restrictions on the editorial freedom of large social media platforms. The law requires such platforms to display any and all posts by registered political candidates and “journalistic enterprises,” even if such posts violate the platforms’ rules of conduct. The law also allows platforms to be sued under a claim that they have not treated posts “consistently,” exposing them to liability of up to $100,000 per post.
NetChoice, a trade association of online businesses, brought a First Amendment suit in federal court against Florida, arguing that the law infringes on private platforms’ right to exercise editorial discretion over the content they host. The district court ruled in favor of NetChoice and preliminarily enjoined the law. Florida appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and Cato has now filed an amicus brief supporting NetChoice.
