“The executive is doing everything it can to create an environment conducive to the actions it wants to take, there is no review or accountability from actors like the courts or legislators or others,” he said. Since taking over X, formerly Twitter, Musk has become one of Trump’s most important allies, supporting the campaign financially and lending the weight of his own platform to promote Trump’s points during the campaign. He began attending meetings with foreign leaders with the president-elect, and considering staff selection for the new administration. Other tech leaders have taken note, cheering on Trump and donating to his inauguration fund. But before the election, other tech companies followed X’s lead to roll back the policies and protections they had previously put in place. For his part, David Greene, senior staff 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 the staff move to Texas doesn’t mean all of the moderates’ perceived problems will be solved. Bias, he says, can eliminate both. “Misinformation is really one of the many, many, many problems that social media platforms have to deal with,” he said. “Having a moderation team in Texas may raise concerns about bias. For example, Texas has a law on the books that makes the publication of certain information about the availability of abortion services illegal. “Once a company has its headquarters or does significant business in the state, which allow them to use the country for jurisdiction in any future filing,” he said. The problem for America, stating that the group undermined the company by showing that hate speech and disinformation on the platform was next to advertising. At that time, the prosecutor Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also announced that his office had opened an investigation into the organization. A federal judge in Texas refused to throw out the case in August 2024. X has since changed the terms of service so that the lawsuit against the company must be brought in the Northern District of Texas , used to be viewed as friendly to Musk’s interests. (The judge in the Media Matters case, for example, reportedly bought and sold shares in Musk’s company Tesla earlier in the year, before the suit was brought.) Meta’s terms of service, unlike the community guidelines, have so far remained same, order. disputes will be resolved in the Northern District of California or, at the state level, in San Mateo County. But that can change. “The legislative environment, the judicial environment, the governor’s environment in Texas is incredibly favorable for executives like Musk, and now Zuckerberg,” said Benavidez. Gill posits that the regulatory environment in Texas can be similar to what companies believe nationally. The regulatory environment will look like it will under the new Trump administration. and the kind of extremist administration,” he said. “So they’re moving to a place where it’s the norm to be compliant.” Gill also noted that Meta is facing antitrust lawsuits from the Federal Trade Commission, which a friendly administration could do. “By pre-emptively making this is a change that they hope will appease the administration, they can hope for a friendly decision in return,” he said. Meta did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
