Controversial Texas social media law goes into effect

A controversial law in the US state of Texas that allows people to sue social media companies if they delete their posts has passed. Tech companies are strongly opposed to the law, which could spark a flood of lawsuits.

The tech companies, united in two campaign groups, have asked the highest court in the United States to the law to delete, reports Axios. The law allows Texans to sue companies if they remove their material because of the position it expresses.

According to politicians in the state, the law is intended to combat censorship. “Every person in this state has a fundamental interest in the free exchange of ideas and information, including the freedom of others to send or receive ideas and information.” The state’s Republican legislators also suspect that social media in their moderation biases their ideas, which they believe makes the law necessary.

The tech companies are against it, because a law from the mid-1990s actually provides that they are free from such lawsuits if they actively moderate. All tech companies do that on their platforms. It only concerns platforms with more than 50 million users. The state governor signed the law last September. In addition to the appeal to the highest court, there is also a case against the law in a Texas court.