Washington, D.C.—A unanimous panel of Eleventh Circuit judges upheld the core of the district court’s injunction of Florida S.B. 7072, making clear that the First Amendment makes content moderation possible and that the state cannot do an end-run around the constitution.
“S.B. 7072 is an assault on the First Amendment and the 11th Circuit confirmed that.” said Carl Szabo, Vice President and General Counsel of NetChoice. “The 11th Circuit makes clear that regardless of size, online companies are private actors whose rights the First Amendment protects, putting to bed the red herring assertions of common carrier or dominance.”
“The First Amendment protects platforms and their right to moderate content as they see fit—and the government can’t force them to host content they don’t want.” continued Szabo. “This makes it even more likely that the US Supreme Court will overturn the 5th Circuit’s split decision on the similar Texas law.”