On November 23, 2022, WLF filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to review—and ultimately to strike down—an Eleventh Circuit decision upholding certain “transparency rules” in Florida’s new social media law, SB7072. WLF joined TechFreedom’s amicus brief, which was prepared in house by Corbin K. Barthold and Berin Szóka. Although the Eleventh Circuit correctly struck down SB7072’s intrusive “content moderation” rules, it largely upheld the transparency rules under the relaxed undue burden standard in Zauderer v. Office of Disciplinary Counsel. As WLF’s brief explains, the Eleventh Circuit’s decision glosses over the immense confusion and controversy that the Zauderer test has produced. Because such compelled-speech requirements bring the state into an unhealthy entanglement with the editorial process, there is no logical limit to governmental demands to supervise how platforms decide what speech to disseminate.
Update: On January 23, 2023, the Supreme Court invited the Solicitor General of the U.S. to file a brief representing the views of the federal government on NetChoice’s petition for certiorari.
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