The Supreme Court on Monday wiped existing rulings around two state laws that aim to prevent tech companies from banning users over potentially harmful rhetoric. The move prolongs a debate over whether Republicans will be able fight what they view as “censorship” by leading social media platforms.

The Court sent the issue back to lower courts for further review, arguing that the previous rulings failed to properly explore whether the content moderation laws would be unconstitutional under all circumstances.

Texas and Florida have passed legislation that Republican lawmakers claim will stop tech companies including Facebook parent Meta; X, formerly known as Twitter; and Google’s YouTube from stifling conservative opinions. The states argue the laws ensure all users have equal access to the platforms, while the tech companies, which are represented by groups including NetChoice, say they violate the companies’ free speech rights.

Justice Elena Kagan wrote the majority opinion, and no justices dissented. She wrote that the lower courts had previously argued how the laws would apply to the largest social media platforms such as Facebook, and in doing so, they failed to consider how it might affect “other kinds of websites and apps” such as Uber or Etsy.

“Today, we vacate both decisions for reasons separate from the First Amendment merits, because neither Court of Appeals properly considered the facial nature of NetChoice’s challenge,” Kagan wrote.

Texas and Florida introduced the laws in 2021 after former President Donald Trump was banned from Twitter because of inflammatory posts surrounding the results of the 2020 presidential election and the ensuing riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump is now the leading Republican candidate in the 2024 presidential race.

The laws in Texas and Florida were enacted before Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk acquired Twitter for about $44 billion in 2022. Musk allowed Trump to return to Twitter that November.

Cryptocurrency firm Circle said Monday it’s now registered as an electronic money institution, or EMI, in France, granting the firm a key license to become a compliant stablecoin issuer under the European Union’s tough crypto laws.

Circle, which is primarily known for its USD Coin, or USDC, stablecoin, said in a statement that it was granted an e-money license by France’s banking industry regulator, Autorite de Controle Prudentiel et de Resolution, or ACPR.

The license makes Circle the first global stablecoin issuer to achieve compliance with the European Union’s landmark Markets in Crypto-Assets, or MiCA, regulatory framework, the company said.

Circle added that the approval will mean that both its USDC and Euro Coin, or EURC, tokens are now being issued in the EU in compliance with MiCA’s stablecoin regulatory obligations. The company said it is also opening up its Circle Mint, which allows businesses to mint and redeem Circle stablecoins, in France.

“Since our founding, Circle has sought to build durable, compliant, and well-regulated infrastructure for stablecoins,” Jeremy Allaire, co-founder and CEO of Circle, said in a statement Monday.

“Our adherence to MiCA, which represents one of the most comprehensive crypto regulatory regimes in the world, is a huge milestone in bringing digital currency into mainstream scale and acceptance,” Allaire added.

Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency pegged to traditional assets, typically government-issued currencies such as the U.S. dollar. Investors hold them to avoid volatility seen in other cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.

They’re also a key way to trade in and out of cryptocurrencies quickly that allows users to avoid having to rely on fiat currencies stored in bank accounts.

Facebook parent company Meta was on Monday accused by EU regulators of failing to comply with the bloc’s landmark antitrust rules over its recently introduced ad-supported social networking service.

The Commission labelled the ad-supported subscription option a “pay or consent” model — which means users have to either pay to use Meta’s platforms ad-free, or consent to their data being processed for personalized advertising. The service was introduced for Facebook and Instagram in Europe last year.

“In the Commission’s preliminary view, this binary choice forces users to consent to the combination of their personal data and fails to provide them a less personalised but equivalent version of Meta’s social networks,” regulators said in a statement Monday.

A Meta spokesperson told CNBC in a statement that its ad-supported subscription model “follows the direction of the highest court in Europe and complies with the DMA.”

“We look forward to further constructive dialogue with the European Commission to bring this investigation to a close,” the spokesperson added.

Meta introduced the new model in response to a ruling from the European Court of Justice, the EU’s top court, last year that a company may offer an “alternative” version of its service that does not rely on data collection for ads.

Meta has previously pointed to this ruling as a reason for introducing the subscription offer.

In its statement Monday, the Commission said that Meta’s ad-supported offering failed to comply with the DMA for two key reasons: one is that it doesn’t let users opt for a service that uses less personal data but is still equivalent to the “personalized ads”-based service.

Regulators said users should still be entitled to “get access to an equivalent service which uses less of their personal data, in this case for the personalization of advertising.”

The other reason cited by the EU is that the Meta ad-supported service doesn’t allow users to exercise their right to “freely consent” for their personal data to be used to target them with online ads.