Moody v. NetChoice, LLC

On July 1, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Moody v. NetChoice, LLC, a pivotal case arising from laws in Florida and Texas that curb large social media platforms' content moderation practices. Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody petitioned the Court to uphold the state law, while trade association NetChoice argued it infringed on platforms' First Amendment editorial rights. The Court, in an opinion authored by Justice Elena Kagan, unanimously vacated the Eleventh Circuit's judgment and remanded the case, finding that the lower courts failed to perform the proper facial analysis of the law's constitutionality. The ruling clarified that social media curation is expressive activity protected by the First Amendment, but left the ultimate fate of the regulations unresolved, directing lower courts to assess the laws' applications to non-expressive functions as well.

The Supreme Court vacated the Eleventh Circuit's decision and remanded the case, holding 9-0 that the lower courts did not conduct an adequate First Amendment facial analysis. The Court affirmed that content moderation constitutes protected expressive activity, but instructed the lower courts to consider the laws' full scope, including non-expressive applications.

Whether Florida and Texas laws restricting social media platforms' discretion over user content violate the First Amendment by compelling them to disseminate speech they would otherwise remove or de-prioritize, and whether the lower courts properly evaluated the facial constitutional challenges.

The decision sets a crucial precedent for the boundaries of government authority over digital speech. By confirming that editorial judgment on social media is constitutionally protected, the ruling shapes ongoing debates about online censorship, platform neutrality, and the future of internet regulation across the United States.