U.S. Supreme Court hearing social media 1st Amendment

(Washington, DC)  --  Social Media companies and the way they handle online content is the focus of a landmark U.S. Supreme Court hearing today.  

The court is examining Republican-backed laws in Texas and Florida that were put in place over claims TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and others dislike conservative speech. The laws were enacted in 2021 after the companies banned former President Trump from their platforms. The companies say laws deciding how they operate violate their First Amendment right to free speech.  

The platforms compare themselves to newspapers who can't be told which information to publish. But supporters of the new laws compare the companies to telephone operators, since they are transmitting content created by others, not themselves.