Tech Trade Groups Sue Over Florida’s New Social Media Law (2)

A new Florida law penalizing social media companies that bar political candidates from their platforms is unconstitutional and conflicts with federal communications law, digital services trade groups said in a lawsuit Thursday.

The law is “a frontal assault on the First Amendment and an extraordinary intervention by the government in the free marketplace of ideas that would be unthinkable for traditional media, book sellers, lending libraries, or newsstands,” according to the lawsuit filed by attorneys for the Computer & Communications Industry Association and NetChoice, whose members include Twitter and Facebook.

Under the law (S.B. 7072), signed May ...