FL (DeSantis) & TX (Abbott): Harsh and Out of Touch Political Troublemakers With Harsh Laws

 

DeSantis & Abbott Sign Laws Attacking Social Media

(Calling them “Anti-GOP/Conservative outlets”)

Free speech and censoring by social media platforms is illegal says FL and TX (here we go again – po’ whittle GOP conservatives – the abused class of politicians). 

These two states say the social media listed below target conservatives mostly and so they are fighting back with their states laws.

That story from this USA TODAY article with this headline:

“Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter will fight Texas crackdown on censorship of Trump & conservative speech”

Key part: Free speech is NOT always FREE.

Background and legal fact: The First Amendment protects people from censorship by the Federal government, NOT from content moderation decisions by private companies such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, as well as all other social media platforms. 

Social media companies say they don't target conservatives, only harmful speech that violates their rules.

Texas House Democrats warned during a recent hearing that the new law would stop social media companies from taking down harmful content.

They offered amendments that would have allowed the removal of posts such as those promoting Holocaust denial, terrorism, and vaccine disinformation but they were defeated.

Adam Kovacevich, CEO of Chamber of Progress – a tech industry coalition that includes Facebook and Google said to USA TODAY: “Forcing social media platforms to stop moderating content, whether it’s misinformation or hate speech, is going to have real world consequences. What’s said online doesn’t just stay online, it spills over into people’s lives and impacts our health, our democracy, and our communities.”

FL was the first state to push through legislation when Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), a staunch Trump ally signed a bill in May.

That FL law penalizes social media companies for removing or barring the speech of Republican-Conservative politicians (or so DeSantis says).

Status: A Federal judge temporarily blocked that new law after “NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association” – both trade groups that represent Facebook, Google, and other tech companies sued. DeSantis lost, but he is appealing that ruling.

Now, the Abbott TX law goes even further than FL’s because it applies to all users and prevents social media platforms from making decisions based on the “viewpoint expressed in the post.” 

FL and TX aim or so it seems: Their claims that powerful tech companies are biased against conservatives is emerging as a top political campaign issue to rally the GOP base in the 2022 midterm elections and possibly beyond.

The full article at the USA TODAY link.

My 2 Cents: On that last point about 2022 midterm election – I don’t think the TX and FL challenges will survive judicial scrutiny – but we shall see – one never knows which court could or would rule for them.

I think logical and constitutional precedence will prevail and both FL and TX laws will not stand – hopefully. 

Also, the GOP always blasts DEMS for being “anti-business” so what do we call this? 

Those social media companies are private companies and like them or not, they can make their own rules vis-à-vis what is acceptable content. Plus, their rules are clearly stated for anyone to read and follow.

Thanks for stopping by.