The legal challenges presented by laws in Florida and Texas now before the U.S. Supreme Court are not so much free speech cases as political attempts by conservative groups to punish social media platforms for a perceived liberal bias.
The laws in the two southern states were enacted as part of a protest against the social media companies’ moderation of Donald Trump’s “stop the steal” effort in the wake of losing the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden.
Actually, companies like Facebook (now Meta) and Twitter (now X) were simply removing dangerous lies about widespread fraud in the 2020 election, not suppressing a point of view.
There was no widespread fraud and the election was not stolen.
Ironically in this matter, it was the Trump team that was trying unsuccessfully to steal the election, but I gather the legislators in Texas and Florida were and are not big fans of irony.
They may also be unfamiliar with the psychological concept of projection. That’s a bit ironic as well because it is what Trump does all the time.
Irony aside, it would seem the Court would have no choice but to reject the states’ laws because in the end the social media companies have the right to moderate content as they see fit.
I don’t know whether Section 230 will come up, but it might. That is the elephant, legally, in the room.
HEADLINES:
Supreme Court hears landmark cases that could upend what we see on social media (CNN)
Supreme Court to Decide How the First Amendment Applies to Social Media (NYT)
Trump appeals New York civil fraud verdict (CNBC)
Trump’s South Carolina Victory Tells Us Some Important Things About His Weaknesses (Slate)
Haley’s South Carolina results should be a ‘five-alarm fire’ for the GOP (The Hill)
Clock is ticking for Trump to post bonds worth half a billion dollars (WP)
Gretchen Whitmer’s Biggest Electoral Test: Can She Deliver Michigan for Biden? (NYT)
The informant next door: A quiet L.A. life masked Kremlin ties for FBI source accused of lying about Bidens (LAT)
Here we go again: Congress faces looming government shutdown deadline (ABC)
Biden hopes cease-fire, hostage deal to pause Israel-Hamas war can take effect by next Monday (AP)
Palestinian prime minister, cabinet offer to resign in step toward post-Gaza war overhaul (WP)
Israeli military presents plan for evacuating Gaza’s population from ‘fighting areas’ (CNN)
Hamas leader hiding in Gaza, but killing him risks hostages, officials say (WP)
UN’s Palestinian aid agency ‘at breaking point’ after $450m budget shortfall (Guardian)
The Spy War: How the C.I.A. Secretly Helps Ukraine Fight Putin (NYT)
Alexei Navalny accuses ‘corrupt officials’ in London of helping Putin in unearthed interview (Independent)
Hungary approves Sweden's NATO membership (Axios)
Biden and Trump to visit US-Mexico border on same day this week (CNN)
Google aims to relaunch Gemini AI image tool in a few weeks (Reuters)
Xiaomi’s latest robot dog does backflips off skateboards, costs $3,000 (TechCrunch)
Navy introduces new robotics warfare rating (Navy Times)
Being nice to chatbots pays off (Axios)
Exploring Emerging Generative AI Tools (Ore. St. U)
Shy Brothers In Affluent Suburb Already Feeling Pressure To Become Auteur Filmmakers (The Onion)
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