Two technology industry groups filed a federal suit Wednesday challenging a new Texas law that prohibits social media companies from banning users based on their “viewpoint,” saying the law unconstitutionally restricts the platforms’ speech rights.
NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association, the organizations that recently successfully challenged a similar law in Florida, argued in their new federal court complaint that the Texas law, known as H.B. 20, infringes social media companies’ First Amendment rights by forcing them to carry objectionable speech. The groups also argued that the law is politically motivated retaliation for the companies’ content moderation decisions.
“At a minimum, H.B. 20 would unconstitutionally require platforms like YouTube and Facebook to disseminate, for example, pro-Nazi speech, terrorist propaganda, foreign government disinformation, and medical misinformation,” the suit says. “In fact, legislators rejected amendments that would explicitly allow platforms to exclude vaccine misinformation, terrorist content, and Holocaust denial.”