A new Texas law that prohibits social media platforms from suppressing speech based on viewpoint marks an “unprecedented attack on private editorial freedom,” the tech industry argues in a new court filing.
The law (HB 20) requires large tech companies to “publish, display, and even recommend all sorts of speech that they deem objectionable,” NetChoice and Computer & Communications Industry Association, write in papers filed Friday with the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The groups add that if allowed to take effect, the measure “would prohibit YouTube’s recent decisions to stop publishing speech from Russian state media amid the invasion of Ukraine.”
“No American government may force private companies to disseminate the propaganda of a foreign power,” the organizations write.