On Friday, Chamber of Progress announced that it will submit an amicus brief next week in support of NetChoice and CCIA’s emergency appeal to the Supreme Court requesting the preliminary injunction against Texas’s social media law be reinstated. Amicus briefs are likely to be due next Wednesday, May 18.

The new Texas law prohibits online platforms from moderating users’ content “based on the viewpoint of the user,” preventing platforms from removing harmful posts including election misinformation, racist posts, conspiracy theories, and other “lawful but awful” content.

“Most Americans don’t want to see a barrage of hate, harassment, and conspiracy theories when they log onto social media, but that’s exactly what this law is now requiring”,” said Chamber of Progress CEO Adam Kovacevich. “If this law is allowed to remain in effect, it’s going to force social media to turn into a sewer.”

During lower court proceedings, Chamber of Progress led amicus briefs with a coalition of other tech and civil society groups urging the court to stop the law. The briefs highlighted how Texas’s law would provide safe harbor to hate speech, disinformation, and other harmful posts if it were allowed to go into effect.

During consideration of the social media bill, Chamber of Progress urged Texas legislators to vocally oppose the measure. Lawmakers on the left questioned the bill’s sponsor for his history of posting violent content online and offered amendments that would have protected the ability of social media sites to take down posts related to Holocaust denial and terrorism. The Democratic amendments were ultimately rejected.

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Chamber of Progress (progresschamber.org) is a center-left tech industry policy coalition promoting technology’s progressive future.  We work to ensure that all Americans benefit from technological leaps, and that the tech industry operates responsibly and fairly.  

Our corporate partners do not have a vote on or veto over our positions. We do not speak for individual partner companies and remain true to our stated principles even when our partners disagree.