Disney Should Have Been In Front of the Supreme Court This Week, But Bought Its Way Out

This was a big week at the Supreme Court. After Republicans became concerned about alleged bias against conservative voices on social media, state legislatures in Florida and Texas passed laws that diminished the capacity of tech companies to moderate speech on their platforms.

The tech companies argued that the laws would handcuff their efforts to remove hate speech, bullying, and falsehoods from their platforms. The lawsuit was brought by Net Choice and the Computer and Communications Industry Association, which represents social media giants like Facebook and Google.

Related: Lawyers Told DeSantis Singling Out Disney Would Be ‘Difficult to Explain and Defend’

The true question before the court is whether or not these social media platforms can have editorial discretion over their platforms and if the First Amendment protects that.

But while the Supreme Court decision will have wide-reaching effects on social media and the upcoming election, there is still the question of why the Walt Disney Company and Disney World were left out of the Florida law.

The Florida law includes nearly all social media sites, but it also includes comment sections for websites like Shop Disney and Disney Plus. But Disney was purposefully left out of the law. Why?

Related: Chief Justice John Roberts Just Sent a Message to DeSantis, Bring Your Disney Case to the Supreme Court and You’ll Lose

Making the Sausage

In 2021, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida Legislature crafted a wide-ranging law that would allow the state to punish social media companies for removing posts or refusing to publish posts from certain media companies or political figures, even if those posts violated the company’s rules on hate speech, violent incitements, or disinformation.

DeSantis used Twitter and Facebook’s bans on former President Donald Trump after he incited the January 6 Riot at the Capital Building to justify taking on the tech companies.

But the law was so broadly written, on purpose, that it could have been used against any company doing business online, including Disney. For example, Disney could be punished for removing hate speech from the comments section on Disney Plus or its Shop Disney.

So, Disney does what Disney does and makes a phone call to the governor. Disney had just written Florida Gov Ron DeSantis a $50,000 check for his re-election campaign.

So, working with Florida Legislatures, DeSantis’ staff was able to get Disney an exception to the law. But that opened them up to a host of other legal challenges. In an email to one of DeSantis’ in-house lawyers, attorneys at Cooper & Kirk, who are also representing the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District in its lawsuit against Disney, said that the Disney exception would be “difficult to explain and defend.”

And in fact, that email has proven correct. Lawyers for the tech firms use that email and the Disney exception to show that DeSantis only wished to punish those who spoke out against him. Lawyers for the State will have to defend the law and the Disney exception before the Supreme Court.

In an ironic twist, the email from Cooper & Kirk only came to light because of Disney’s current case against Governor DeSantis for government retaliation and violating Disney’s First Amendment Rights.

For now, lawyers for Big Tech will be making their free speech argument in front of the highest court in the land while the Walt Disney Company watches. It would appear that the $50,000 check to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was well spent, saving Disney millions in future legal fees.

What do you think about Disney buying its way out of a Florida law? Let us know in the comments.