TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — First Amendment advocates on Thursday hailed a federal judge's eleventh hour decision to block a social media deplatforming ban signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis from taking effect, calling it more than justified given decades of case law protecting the right of media companies to moderate speech.

The 31-page ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Robert Hinkle excoriated the arguments made by the state in defense of the ban, which was passed by the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature at the governor's urging in the wake of former President Donald Trump's suspension from Facebook and Twitter following the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol attack.

Hinkle wrote the ban on suspending political candidates from online platforms was an "effort to rein in social media providers deemed too large and too liberal" and that "leveling the playing field...is not a legitimate state interest." He also noted the First Amendment prerogative for media organizations of all stripes to decide which voices to feature.

Trimmel Gomes, a Florida First Amendment Foundation board member, said Repubicans were at once championing the free speech rights of politicians engaging in incendiary rhetoric while suppressing the free speech rights of social media companies.

"What we're seeing is the state, by way of the governor, basically trying to have his cake and eat it, too."

Hinkle's ruling, however, only grants a temporary injunction. While he wrote the plaintiffs, a coalition of social media companies, are likely to prevail on the merits of their legal challenge, a ruling in their favor could prompt the state to appeal to the Atlanta-based Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeal.

"They already know these case laws and case studies and the precedent that's set forth, but when it comes to politics and ideology, they're not letting facts get in the way of a good story," Gomes said.