Supreme Court blocks Texas law on social media ‘censorship’

The Supreme Court blocked enforcement of a Texas law banning online platforms from restricting users’ posts based on their political views, representing a major win for social media companies.

Tech industry groups had said the statute would violate the companies’ First Amendment rights and force them to carry “the vilest speech imaginable — such as white supremacist manifestos, Nazi screeds, Russian-state propaganda, Holocaust denial, and terrorist-organization recruitment.”

Texas officials, including Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, say the law is needed to stop companies like Twitter and Facebook from censoring conservative users. The case now returns to lower federal courts in Texas, which are weighing arguments about the law’s constitutionality.