ORLANDO, Fla. — A federal appeals court ruled Monday it is unconstitutional for Florida to prohibit social media companies from banning politicians, dealing a blow to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ push to combat what he declares to be online censorship.
A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an injunction blocking key parts of Florida’s social media law pushed by the governor, writing that meddling with the platforms’ content-moderation policies ran afoul of the First Amendment.
“We conclude that social-media platforms’ content-moderation activities — permitting, removing, prioritizing, and deprioritizing users and posts — constitute ‘speech’ within the meaning of the First Amendment,” the court wrote in a 67-page opinion.
