“Officials are doing everything they can to create a situation that allows the actions they want to take, the lack of review or accountability of actors such as our courts or legislatures or others,” he said.
Since taking over at X, formerly Twitter, Musk has become one of Trump’s most important allies, supporting his campaign financially and lending the full weight of his platform to promote Trump’s talking points during the campaign. He then sat in meetings with foreign leaders and the president-elect, and considered the selection of workers for the new government. Other tech leaders took note, meeting with Trump and donating to his inauguration fund. But even before the election, other tech companies were following X’s lead in rolling back existing policies and protections.
On the other hand, David Greene, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, says that Meta and other social networks will have to comply with the laws of the country regardless of where they are located. And moving workers to Texas doesn’t mean all of its balance sheet problems will be fixed. Bias, he says, can cut both ways.
“False information is one of the many, many, many problems that social media has to deal with,” he said. “Having a moderation team in Texas may raise concerns about bias as well. For example, Texas has laws on the books that make the publication of certain information about the availability of abortion services illegal.”
But Benavidez says the Texas telecommunications law may not be the state’s only request. “If a company already has headquarters or does significant business in a state, that allows them to use that state to control any future filings,” he said.
In 2023, X filed a lawsuit in Texas against the non-profit organization Media Matters for America, alleging that the group had defamed the company by pointing out that hate speech and misinformation on the platform were accompanied by advertisements. Meanwhile, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also announced that his office is opening an investigation into the agency. A federal judge in Texas refused to dismiss the lawsuit in August 2024. UX has since changed its terms of service so that any lawsuits against the company must be brought in Texas. Federalism must be delivered in the North Texas state, which is widely viewed as friendly to Musk’s interests. (The judge in the Media Matters case, for example, reportedly bought and sold stock in Musk’s Tesla earlier this year, before the lawsuit was brought.)
Meta’s terms of service, unlike the public guidelines, have so far remained the same, authorizing disputes to be resolved either 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 executive environment in Texas is incredibly attractive to executives like Musk, and now Zuckerberg,” Benavidez said.
Gill posits that the regulatory environment in Texas could be similar to what companies believe the national regulatory environment will look like under the new Trump administration.
“I think they are looking ahead and see a situation that will be dominated by the general trend and the type of extreme management,” he said. “So they move to places where it’s normal to be able to comply first.”
Gill also notes that Meta is facing an antitrust lawsuit from the Federal Trade Commission, which friendly executives may see fit to toss. “By making these changes in advance that they hope will please the management, they may hope that they will make a friendly decision,” he said.
Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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