Florida’s Ron DeSantis became the first Republican governor to introduce legislation cracking down on Big Tech for “censorship” of conservatives.
“What began as a group of upstart technology companies from the West Coast has since transformed into an industry of monopoly communications platforms that monitor, influence, and control the flow of information in our country and among our citizens,” DeSantis said Tuesday.
“At the turn of the 21st century, online technology represented tools to liberate Americans from reliance on distrusted legacy media outlets. As social media proliferated over the past decade, citizens could directly connect with large numbers of people and could cut out corporate media outlets entirely,” he said. “Over the years, however, these platforms have changed from neutral platforms that provided Americans with the freedom to speak to enforcers of preferred narratives.”
DeSantis proposed different measures, including a $100,000 daily fine for companies that deplatform political candidates and allowing users to sue companies for violating individual protections.
“It’s not just being banned from Twitter. As we’ve seen, these companies can collude,” the governor told Fox News’s Tucker Carlson. “They can deny you, if you’re a small business … payment processing, the ability to use email and text. So, you go to a rally that they don’t like or you engage in wrongthink, and all of a sudden, your flower business is decapitated for a month because they take action.”
“We think this is something that Floridians want protection from, and I think it will end up being a really good first step,” DeSantis said.
