DeSantis Takes Big Jab Against Big Tech Social Media Censorship
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has thrown down the gauntlet against Social Media censorship by big tech in his state.
The Republican Governor recently a measure that he says will protect Florida residents from Silicon Valley’s “power grab on speech, thought and content.” The Big Tech Bill, as DeSantis calls it, allows residents to fight back against de-platforming and censorship, allowing them to sue tech companies for up to $100,000 in damages for each proven claim of unfairly pulling or flagging a social media post in a bid to ensure companies are more transparent about their content moderation practices.
The law requires companies to detail how they reach conclusions about content moderation and stick to those standards consistently, DeSantis said during a press conference discussing the measure.
The Florida Attorney General will also be able to bring action against tech companies that violate the law, which prohibits the de-platforming of political candidates as well.
“This session, we took action to ensure that ‘We the People’ — real Floridians across the Sunshine State — are guaranteed protection against the Silicon Valley elites,” DeSantis said in a statement. “If Big Tech censors enforce rules inconsistently, to discriminate in favor of the dominant Silicon Valley ideology, they will now be held accountable.”
DeSantis noted that Florida would be the first state to implement such a law.
DeSantis has been critical of what he views as censorship engaged in by the company’s largest technology companies and has accused platforms like YouTube and Facebook of attempting to stamp out ideas that go against its “narrative.”
“I think what we’re really witnessing is Orwellian,” DeSantis said last month. “It’s a big tech, corporate-media collusion, and the end result is that the narrative is always right.”
The Republican Governor made those comments after a roundtable he hosted was removed from YouTube due to comments made about the need for children to wear masks in school, which the company said contradicted the consensus of local and global health authorities.
The bill, titled SB 7072, aims to safeguard Floridians from social media censorship and impose hefty fines on platforms that ban political candidates as a way to crack down on such forms of election interference.
“They shadowban people, which creates partisan echo chambers,” DeSantis also said at the press conference. “They are some of the major reasons why this country is divided for doing what they’re doing.”
Under the law, the grounds for action will come from Florida’s unfair and deceptive Trade Policies Act, which would see censorship and shadowbanning by social media platforms as a violation of anti-trust law.
“This is a big problem,” DeSantis said. “We don’t even need to get into the election interference from Silicon Valley.”
The “tech giants” at which the law is aimed say the legislation is unconstitutional, setting the stage for a court battle over the law. Questions about the bill’s constitutionality are rooted in First Amendment cases prohibiting the government from compelling speech by private entities.
What do you think of this law? Should it be nationwide? Please reply using the comments below.
Unless Florida has a law to override Federal laws, then any business has a right to control actions or speech within their business. If I go into a store or into work and start espousing things that the store or my work place do not like they have a perfect right have me removed, why would it be any different on a Social Media platform, that is a private business not a public trust.
The law is also very specific on espousing things that would cause, or could cause others to act violently.