Moderating misinfo in a crisis, Brazilian bill blocked and 'designing for the margins'

Hello and welcome to Everything in Moderation, your guide to understanding how content moderation is changing the world. It's written by me, Ben Whitelaw.

I want to thank new subscribers from Depop, Cyacomb and Spectrum Labs and half a dozen others for carving out a space in their inboxes for EiM. If you received this from a colleague or friend, you can sign up here (or join as a supporting member). This week's newsletter is in your inboxes later than usual because I was in charge of some very important cargo.

It'll be back at its normal time next week with an exciting interview and some fresh analysis. For now, here's everything you need to know from the last seven days — BW

Policies - emerging speech regulation and legislation

A lot can happen in a week, especially as far as Texas' HB 20 law is concerned.

First, technology companies, represented by NetChoice and Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), try to block the law in the Supreme Court, citing the risk of causing "irreparable harm" to the web. Then, the state hit back with its own petition, urging the Supreme Court to reject the emergency application. And in the last 24 hours, we've seen Republicans "scrambling" to defend the law in the face of a flood of pro-platform legal briefs.  

We'll no doubt be somewhere completely different next week but in the meantime, I recommend this Lawfare podcast with Alex Abdo and Scott Wilkens from the Knight First Amendment Institute and this thread from Corbin K. Barthold, internet policy counsel at think tank Tech Freedom, who explains why the whole thing is "bonkers".