Supporting a lawsuit that characterized a Florida social media law as a “frontal assault on the First Amendment,” a New York-based free speech group urged an appellate court on Tuesday to uphold a federal judge’s ruling blocking it.
“Florida’s version of the First Amendment would give the government sweeping authority over the digital public sphere and impede social media companies from addressing real harms online,” the Knight First Amendment Institute wrote in a 37-page amicus brief on Tuesday.
The challengers of the law prevailed before U.S. District Judge Robert L. Hinkle, who blocked Florida officials from enforcing it months later.
“The legislation now at issue was an effort to rein in social-media providers deemed too large and too liberal,” Hinkle, a Bill Clinton appointee, noted in his June ruling. “Balancing the exchange of ideas among private speakers is not a legitimate governmental interest.”
In a statement, Wilkens said that upholding the Florida law would grant the government “sweeping authority” to control the internet.