Can the government regulate what you say on Facebook?

The Supreme Court is trying to decide how far the First Amendment reaches when it comes to social media.On Monday, the nine justices heard a pair of cases that question if states can force social media platforms to abide by censorship rules — even when the platforms deem those posts hateful or otherwise objectionable. Here’s what we know. SEE ALSO: US Supreme Court warns of dangers of AI in legal profession Which cases did the Supreme Court hear?A relatively recent pair of laws in Texas and Florida were passed in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The laws argued that social media companies were censoring conservative users on their platforms and limited the avenues that social media companies can take concerning moderating content on the site. “Freedom of speech is under attack in Texas,” Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said when he signed the bill into law in 2021. “There is a dangerous movement by some social media companies to silence conservative ideas and values. This is wrong and we will not allow it in Texas.”Two trade groups representing social media platforms have challenged the laws, from an appeals court up to the Supreme Court. Neither state is allowed to fully enforce the law yet, but it all depends on how the Supreme Court eventually rules. “There is nothing more Orwellian than the government trying to dictate what viewpoints are distributed in the name of free expression,” Matt Schruers, the president of the Computer & Communications Industry…Can the government regulate what you say on Facebook?