Announcer: The following segment is sponsored by Harding Mazzotti.
Lara: Earlier this week, some U.S. Supreme Court justices expressed concerns about laws in Florida and Texas aiming to restrict the power of social media companies to moderate content that the platforms deem offensive or dangerous. So, the question is, do these laws violate free speech rights for the companies under the First Amendment? So, managing partner Paul Harding is here from Harding Mazzotti to break it all down for us.
Paul: So, interesting. So, the laws are basically saying, “Hey, who made you in charge of saying what’s proper content, right? So, we don’t think social media, you guys should be the one doing it. We’re not sure who’s doing it, but we don’t want you guys to do it.” And social media does a reverse and says, “Wow, that violates our First Amendment rights. We have the ability to control it.” And so, it’s kind of mind-boggling, you know, that they’re using the First Amendment sort of in a role reversal. But we’re seeing for the first time, Republican states who are coming out and saying, “Hey, we don’t like the content you’re keeping off. It’s helping us.”
Lara: And how are the social media companies that are responding to this?
Paul: Well, they’re saying, “What are we going to do?” Because it’s kind of like social media, it’s not something they’re writing, it’s something that we’re all on social media. And all of a sudden, am I authorized to open an account and have an opinion? Yes. And if it’s something that is dangerous and could lead to some kind of a problem, they say, “We’re going to take it off.” So, they’re doing what they think is reasonable. This law is saying, again, “Who put you in charge of reasonableness?”
Lara: Right. And the Supreme Court hasn’t ruled on this yet, but we kind of got an inkling of where they’re headed towards. What are they saying at this point?
Paul: Well, First Amendment’s tricky. You could spend all three years in law school doing the First Amendment. So, I don’t know what the Supreme Court is ever gonna do on this. But they’re getting a sense that they’re kind of going, “Look, it’s something. Someone has to do something.” You can’t say they can’t do anything. Otherwise, they’re just a platform. And if they’re just a platform with no responsibility, well, that’s a different story. No, most recently with the lawsuits that were filed against Facebook and social media companies, they’re saying, no, that’s what they’re trying to say, “We’re just a platform.” But here, I think the Supreme Court is saying, “No, we’re gonna give them some ability, maybe set some parameters.” But, again, me and the Supreme Court often are not on the same page.
Lara: Yeah. And those lawsuits you mentioned are lawsuits happening across the country right now. So, you’re saying they’re not necessarily related to this.
Paul: They’re not related to this, but they’re saying that their algorithm….you know, the allegation is the algorithms put pressure on teenagers, like the teenage suicide, depression, and things like that. And their defense there is, “Hey, we’re sort of…it’s not us, we’re just a platform.” So, it’s kind of a different argument that they’re making when the state of Florida and Texas is telling them that they can’t put things on and off. But, you know, different argument for a different day.
Lara: Yeah, well, we’ll see how it all plays out, I guess.
Paul: Absolutely.
Lara: Thanks so much.
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