A proposal aimed at cracking down on social media companies that are keeping users away from their platforms – a priority issue for the government. Ron DeSantis – moves forward in the Senate.
The Senate Government’s Oversight and Accountability Committee plans to include the bill (SPB 7072) on Tuesday. Legislation would prohibit a social media platform from banning a political candidate and set consequences for companies who fail to comply.
Under the proposal, violations could result in fines of $ 100,000 per day for nationwide candidates and $ 10,000 per day for other candidates.
The bill, which deals with antitrust laws, would also require tech companies to publish standards that address issues such as censorship, deplatformation, and blocking of users, and to apply the standards consistently.
According to the legislation, social media platforms would be entitled to provide free advertising for candidates, provided they inform the candidate about such a contribution in kind. According to the Bill, “Candidate posts, content, materials, and comments displayed on the Platform in the same or similar manner as other users’ posts, content, materials, and comments will not be considered free advertising.”
Similar legislation (HB 7013) is being pushed forward in-house and is to be negotiated in its final committee on Tuesday. Springhill Republican Rep. Blaise Ingoglia sponsored the bill.
Proponents of the legislation say it protects users’ rights to freedom of expression, but opponents argue that it forces private companies to accept speeches they consider inappropriate for their website. The house proposal passed its first committee by 19-8 votes, with few Republicans breaking out of the party and expressing concerns about its potential.
DeSantis, who pushes for this and other regulations on big tech companies, announced legislation as a priority back in February.
The candidate protection regulations were partly inspired by when social media companies removed the then president Donald Trump and other Conservatives from their platforms after the US Capitol uprising and when Big Tech suppressed coverage of the New York Post Hunter Biden that mainstream media challenged.
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