“Executives are doing everything they can to create an environment favorable to the actions they want to take without review or accountability from actors like courts, regulators,” she said. our legislature or others”.
Since taking over X, formerly Twitter, Musk has become one of Trump's most important allies, financial support for his campaign and used his entire platform to promote Trump's views during the campaign. Since then, he has participated in meetings with foreign leaders with the president-elect and deliberated on issues related to the issue. personnel selection for the new government. Other tech leaders have taken note, supporting Trump and Donate to his inauguration fund. But even before the election, Other tech companies are following X's lead in rolling back policies and protections that was there before.
For his part, David Greene, senior attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said that Meta and other social platforms will likely have to comply with state laws regardless of location. And moving staff to Texas doesn't mean all of the alleged censorship problems will be fixed. Bias can cut both ways, he said.
“Misinformation is really one of many, many problems that social media platforms have to deal with,” he said. “Having a moderation team in Texas could also raise concerns about bias. For example, Texas has a law that makes it illegal to publish certain information about the provision of abortion services.”
But Benavidez said Texas' social media law may not be the state's only calling. “When a company is headquartered or doing significant business in a state, that allows them to use that state as an authority for any records they have in the future,” she said. .
In 2023, X filed a lawsuit against nonprofit watchdog Media Matters for America in Texasalleged that the group disparaged the company by pointing out that hate speech and misinformation on the platform ran alongside ads. At the time, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also announced His office is opening an investigation into the organization. A federal judge in Texas refused to dismiss the case in August 2024. X has since Terms of service have changed so that any lawsuit against the company must be brought in Texas. Federal agencies must be brought to the Northern District of Texas, which is widely seen as friendly to Musk's interests. (For example, the judge in the Media Matters case, allegedly buy and sell stocks at Musk's Tesla company earlier this year, before the lawsuit was filed.)
Meta's terms of serviceUnlike its community guidelines, which remain in place today, disputes are required to be resolved in the Northern District of California or at the state level in San Mateo County. But that could change.
“The legislative environment, the judicial environment, the gubernatorial environment in Texas is extremely favorable for executives like Musk and now Zuckerberg,” Benavidez said.
Gill said the regulatory environment in Texas could resemble what companies believe the national regulatory environment will look like under the new Trump administration.
“I think they are looking ahead and seeing an environment that will be dominated by an administration that is conservative and extremist,” she said. “So they're moving to places that are considered standard so they can comply first.”
Gill also noted that Meta is facing one antitrust lawsuit from the Federal Trade Commissionwhich a friendly administration might see fit to eliminate. “By making these changes in advance in the hope of placating the government, they can hope to receive a friendly decision in return,” she said.
Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.