Elizbeth B. Prelogar, the Biden Administration’s Solicitor General (whose name you’re not likely to see on National Zero again because… solicitor general), wrote Chief Justice John Roberts urging the Supreme Court to take up two cases with conflicting lower court decisions regarding the ability of social media companies to remove or limit controversial content, the Washington Post reports.
The 5th Circuit issued a decision in September 2022 overturning a lower court decision that blocked the Texas government from regulating how social media platforms moderate user content after conservatives claimed the law was needed because the little crybabies got posts containing false, defamatory and threatening removed from Facebook and they whined about political censorship. A decision by an 11th Circuit panel of three Republican-appointed judges, however, went the other way in May 2022, striking down a Florida law that regulated social media companies, finding that the companies are covered by the First Amendment to self-determine what content the site would host.
The Solicitor General asked the Court to take up the court to clarify the matter, particularly given the upcoming campaign and election: a swift Supreme Court decision would solidify the positions of social media companies and allow them to set policies. The letter from Prelogar notes the Administration urges the Court to take the 11th Circuit’s position allowing social media companies to determine their own moderation policies.