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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) revealed on Twitter that he had secured a huge win for free speech in federal court, hitting back against the tyranny of Big Tech’s rampant online censorship. “BREAKING: I just secured a MASSIVE VICTORY for the Constitution & Free Speech in fed court,” Paxton wrote.
He continued, “#BigTech CANNOT censor the political voices of ANY Texan! The 5th Circuit ‘reject[s] the idea that corporations have a freewheeling First Amendment right to censor what people say.”
Paxton attached two images of court documents to his tweet, highlighting a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. The ruling took overturned a decision made in a lower court that stonewalled Texans from being able to sue Big Tech companies for censoring their political viewpoints, per Just the News.
According to the ruling:
“The implications of the platforms’ argument are staggering. On the platforms’ view, email providers, mobile phone companies, and banks could cancel the accounts of anyone who sends an email, makes a phone call, or spends money in support of a disfavored political party, candidate, or business. What’s worse, the platforms argue that a business can acquire the dominant market position by holding itself out as open to everyone – as Twitter did in championing itself as ‘the free speech wing of the free speech party.’”
According to Just the News, the federal court’s new decision will uphold the law allowing both Texas residents and the Office of the Texas Attorney General to file lawsuits against social media giants like Twitter or Instagram if they engage in censorship.
“Today we reject the idea that corporations have a freewheeling First Amendment right to censor what people say. Because the district court held otherwise, we reverse its injunction and remand for further proceedings,” the ruling concluded.
The Lone Star State’s legal win against the suppression tactics of social media platforms comes on the heels of widespread suspicion and distrust of sites like Facebook.
In early September, a Louisiana judge ordered key members of the Biden administration to hand over communications between themselves and Big Tech companies, per RSBN.
The lawsuit, spearheaded by Missouri state Attorney General Eric Schmitt (R), specifically took aim at censorship that was coming top-down from the current administration’s alleged partnership with social media platforms.