Federal judge to revisit 2021 Florida social media law following Supreme Court ruling

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A federal judge will revisit the constitutionality of a 2021 Florida law restricting social media platforms, following a Supreme Court order that questioned how previous courts assessed the case.

On Friday, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case back to U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle, who had initially issued a preliminary injunction against the law in 2021 on First Amendment grounds. The appeals court had previously upheld most of Hinkle’s decision in 2022.

>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<

However, on July 1, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated the appeals court ruling and remanded the case for further consideration. The Supreme Court did not address the constitutional issues but criticized both the 11th Circuit and a similar appeals court in Texas for failing to properly consider the “facial nature” of challenges to the laws.

Justice Elena Kagan, in the main opinion, highlighted the need for courts to evaluate a law’s “full set of applications” to determine its constitutionality, stating that “neither court performed that necessary inquiry.”

In a brief order on Friday, the 11th Circuit instructed the district court to proceed “in full” with further proceedings consistent with the Supreme Court’s opinion. Social media industry groups quickly requested a conference before Judge Hinkle to argue that the 2021 injunction should remain in effect during the ongoing legal process. As of Monday morning, no response had been made by the state or Judge Hinkle, according to the court docket.

The 2021 law was approved by Governor Ron DeSantis and the Republican-controlled Legislature following actions by Facebook and Twitter (now X) to ban former President Donald Trump after the January 6th Capitol riot. The law prohibited platforms from banning political candidates and required them to publish and consistently apply standards on user bans and content blocking. It targeted social media platforms with annual gross revenue exceeding $100 million or more than 100 million monthly active users, imposing penalties for violations.

The industry groups NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association challenged the law’s constitutionality, leading to the initial rulings by Hinkle and the 11th Circuit. Florida then appealed to the Supreme Court.

Although the Supreme Court did not rule on the First Amendment issues, justices acknowledged the complexity of the cases.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson noted the “complex clash between two novel state laws and the alleged First Amendment rights of several of the largest social media platforms,” adding that while not every action by a social media company may be protected under the First Amendment, it is also unclear whether all regulations would withstand constitutional scrutiny.

[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]F

Following the Supreme Court’s decision, the industry groups requested that the 11th Circuit accept briefs to address the implications of the Supreme Court’s ruling and determine whether a remand to the district court was necessary. They also argued that the preliminary injunction should remain in place during further proceedings.

State lawyers representing Florida, including those from Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office, argued that the case should return to the district court. They contended that the state has been “enjoined from enforcing SB 7072 in its entirety for three years despite no showing in the district court that NetChoice is likely to succeed on its facial challenge, as that standard is properly applied.”

The state’s legal team argued that the current case record is insufficient to evaluate the merits of the industry groups’ request for an injunction. They asserted that determinations about which platforms fall under the law’s restrictions and potential First Amendment violations would require further findings on “different levels of editorial choice” across the platforms’ various functions.

[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]

Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.