North Carolina's New Abortion Law Is Also a Weapon Against Free Speech

The speech restrictions in North Carolina’s new law play into a national battle over online speech that Republicans and Democrats have been fighting for years. With debates swirling about misinformation and censorship, Democrats have advocated for tighter restrictions to control online speech they view as harmful, while Republicans have argued for more permissive policies to counter platform moderation they view as biased against conservatives.

Beyond the courts, there is the issue of how tech platforms will implement laws like North Carolina’s. Platforms will be hesitant to permit ads that run afoul of the rules and their compliance options may be limited by their technical capabilities and knowledge of their users. So when they face a choice about whether to censor content or violate the law, they will often choose censorship.

For example, North Carolina’s law applies only to content directed at pregnant women within the state. Some companies will be able to simply prohibit content for these users. But if a company can’t target based on state residence or doesn’t have enough data to reliably predict if someone is pregnant, it may choose to remove that content for everyone.

What’s more, platforms may be unwilling to take compliance risks because it is uncertain how the Supreme Court would rule on the issue. In the decision overturningthat abortion is “fundamentally different.” That view may lead the court to carve out a new First Amendment doctrine in abortion-related cases. If it does, platforms could get caught in the middle of conflicting state laws, where complying with the law in one state might mean violating the law in another.

Source: Law Daily Report (lawdailyreport.net)

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