Supreme Court rules on measure to prevent social media companies from blocking or banning people.
A Texas law that Tesla (TSLA) – Get Tesla Inc Report CEO and potential Twitter (TWTR) – Get Twitter, Inc. Report owner Elon Musk should love, has run into a roadblock at the Supreme Court.
In a ruling on May 31, 2022 the court voted 5 to 4 that the law should not go into effect while legal challenges are pursued in lower courts.
The measure bars social media companies from blocking, or downplaying posts by Texans on their sites because of the viewpoints expressed.
It grew out of conservative complaints that they are treated unfairly by social media companies.
Technology lobbying groups had challenged the measure, seeking the emergency ruling to keep the law from going into effect while court challenges continue.
Musk moved the Tesla headquarters from California to Texas last year. Tesla also recently inaugurated its latest assembly plant near Austin.
In April, Musk launched a $44 billion takeover deal for Twitter. He has complained that social media companies are biased.
He has said if he completes his takeover of the company, he will allow former President Donald Trump to return to Twitter.
Trump was permanently banned from Twitter “due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” after the fatal Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection attempting to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election.
Will Trump Come Back?
Trump has vowed not to return to Twitter, even though his own social media company has largely failed to gain traction.
Musk has used Twitter in much the same way Trump did, though perhaps at a slightly more elevated level.
He has been tweeting frequently on many different subjects and offering opinions on topics ranging from space aliens to to the nature of time to the global population collapse.
Musk recently sought to troll elected officials by asking who users trusted less, billionaires or politicians.
The unscientific results found about 75% of those responding trusted politicians less than billionaires.
There was no acknowledgement in the poll that many politicians receive significant financial backing from billionaires either directly, through their companies or through political action committees they fund.
