In a case that could determine the future of social media, the US Supreme Court was asked on Monday to decide whether a pair of state laws that limit content moderation are constitutional.

The laws were passed by Florida and Texas in a bid to stem what conservatives see as political bias by big tech companies on the major platforms.

Florida's measure bars social media platforms from pulling content from politicians, a law that was passed after former president Donald Trump was suspended from Twitter and Facebook in the wake of the January 6, 2021 assault on US Congress.

The suspension crystallized long-held criticism by US conservatives of alleged political censorship on sites such as Facebook or YouTube.

Florida governor and former US presidential candidate Ron DeSantis said the law was needed to reverse "shadow-banning" by tech companies of conservative viewpoints and political figures, which the platforms firmly deny.

In Texas, the law stops sites from pulling content based on a "viewpoint" and is also intended to thwart what conservatives see as "censorship" by tech platforms against right-wing ideas.

"It's difficult to think of any other recent First Amendment case in which the stakes were so high," said Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute, in a statement.

The appeal was brought to the country's highest court by associations representing big tech companies, the Computer & Communications Industry Association and NetChoice, who argue that the first amendment allows platforms to have the freedom to handle content as they see fit.

"We are looking to vindicate the First Amendment rights of websites to make editorial decisions that protect the trust and safety of their users," said CCIA president Matt Schruers.

"When Texas and Florida say the government is now going to be the barometer of what is allowable speech and what content must be carried online, that's a clear First Amendment violation," he added.

The Biden administration has also urged the Supreme Court to take up the case and will also argue against the laws at the Supreme Court on Monday.

The highly politicized issue faces an uncertain outcome in the polarized Supreme Court.

The nine-member court earlier this year narrowly voted to suspend the controversial laws while it weighed the cases.

But that decision was opposed by three conservative justices, who in an opinion said that the "ground-breaking" Texas law governing the activity of major platforms needed special treatment and that jurisprudence on free speech matters was not necessarily fit for purpose.

Justice Elena Kagan, a liberal, also dissented, though she did not give any justification for doing so.

Given the political divide in the US, Texas and Florida laws came onto the books as Washington struggles to update federal laws governing online life, with states increasingly setting their own rules.

The state of Montana has passed an outright ban of TikTok, while Maryland has enacted its own tax of online advertising.

© 2024 AFP