Gov. DeSantisâ unconstitutional attack on social media | Column
The state cannot tell media companies what sort of political speech they must carry.
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Just as newspapers do, Facebook, Google and Twitter have the right to determine what kind of content they want on their platforms. [ AP ]
Published Mar. 3
Updated Mar. 3
Fresh off his second-place finish â behind only former President Donald Trump â in the presidential straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Gov. Ron DeSantisâ top priority heading into this yearâs legislative session is custom-fit to appeal to the CPAC crowd: going after Big Tech social-media companies for their alleged anti-conservative bias.
Thu, Feb 4th 2021 10:44am
Mike Masnick
A bunch of Republican state legislators across the country are apparently unconcerned with either the 1st Amendment (or reality) have decided that they need to stop social media companies from engaging in any sort of content moderation. Earlier this week, Florida
Man Governor Ron DeSantis proposed just such a law, which would be struck down as unconstitutional with amazing speed. The bill, dubbed the Transparency in Technology Act would do a bunch of things laid out in this infographic the Florida GOP sent around, almost all of which the state has no authority to do. On the content moderation front, it would require set standards for content moderation that can t easily be changed and require the company apply those standards consistently.
Attorneys explain social media bans do not violate First Amendment rights
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MIAMI – In the wake of the siege on the US Capitol, President Donald Trump was permanently banned from Twitter and blocked on several other social media sites.
Alternative sites like Parler are also being shut down, but according to legal experts, social media bans don’t violate the first amendment.
“It may be unwise to exclude some people from those platforms,” said attorney and medial law professor at Syracuse’s Newhouse School of Public Communications Nina Brown. “The first amendment allows Twitter to decide how it wants to speak.”