Texans now have the ability to sue big tech social media companies that censor certain political viewpoints

What does this mean for Lemmy instances and the practice of blocking and banning users and instances? Or even moderation? (I know Lemmy has not grown into the ranks of Twitter & Facebook YET).

Other states and countries either have passed or are introducing similar laws - so it will not just be a Texas thing - and depending on the specifics of the law, it may not be confined to Big Tech.

The ruling clears the way for Texans and the Texas Attorney General’s office to file lawsuits against Big Tech giants like YouTube, Twitter and Facebook if they take down or censor certain political viewpoints.

  • ieure
    13·
    2 years ago

    What does this mean for Lemmy instances and the practice of blocking and banning users and instances?

    Nothing at all.

    From the text of the bill:

    This chapter applies only to a social media platform that functionally has more than 50 million active users in the United States in a calendar month.

    Lemmy doesn’t have that many users, and if we’re being honest, probably never will. So this unbelievably stupid and bad law doesn’t apply, and isn’t likely to in the future.

    Hopefully it’s struck down, though I wouldn’t count on anything reasonable or logical coming from the ghouls on the Supreme Court these days.