Florida to Supreme Court: Let us regulate social networks as common carriers

The State of Florida asked the US Supreme Court to reinstate its social media regulation law that made it illegal for sites like Facebook and Twitter to ban politicians. Florida's petition said the Supreme Court should answer the questions of whether the First Amendment prohibits states "from requiring that social-media companies host third-party communications, and from regulating the time, place, and manner in which they do so," and whether the First Amendment prohibits states "from requiring social-media companies to notify and provide an explanation to their users when they censor the user's speech." The Florida law is currently blocked by an order issued by the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, which made its ruling in a lawsuit filed by Big Tech industry groups. Florida filed its Supreme Court petition several days after a Texas social media law was reinstated by the US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. Florida's petition points to the contrasting decisions by the 5th and 11th Circuit courts as evidence that the Supreme Court should settle the over-arching questions relevant to both cases. Florida said the case over its own law is "an ideal vehicle" for considering "whether social-media platforms are 'speaking' when they host third-party speech." The Big Tech industry groups that sued Florida also said they want the Supreme Court to decide the case.