Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Facebook and Twitter were leading a “dangerous move to silence conservative voices and religious freedoms” as he backed a state bill Friday that would allow Texans to be temporarily removed or banned from Facebook or Twitter to sue the social media businesses. to be reset.
The bill, introduced by Republican senators earlier this week, is the latest in more than a dozen attempts that have surfaced across the country in recent weeks, following the banning of former President Donald Trump from the two social media platforms after following January 6 Capitol riot.
At a press conference in Tyler, Texas, Abbott argued that under a federal law of 1996, known as Article 230, social media companies have an obligation to keep their platforms open, and that the violations of Facebook, Twitter and others right to Texas the right. to draw up its own state-specific regulations.
“Big tech’s efforts to censor conservative views are not American, and we are not going to allow that in the Lone Star State,” Abbott said.
Bryan Hughes, a state senator in Texas who sponsored the bill and spoke with Abbott, said all the state wants to do is protect the freedom of its citizens. “We do not allow a cable company to cut off your television because of your religion,” Hughes offered as a justification for the proposed law.
A Facebook spokesperson did not return a request for comment via CBS MoneyWatch. In the past, Facebook and other social media companies have said they have the right to monitor and ban users on their platforms when those users post speech that promotes violence.
Many technology and media experts agree. Industry group TechNet said in a statement that the Texas bill would lead to numerous unintended negative consequences, including exposing children to harmful content.
“Every day, millions of pieces of digital content are posted pointing to child exploitation, bullying, harassment, pornography and spam,” TechNet said. “This bill not only recklessly encourages companies to leave offensive content in the public eye, but also creates a culture that supports frivolous lawsuits against U.S. companies.”
Sharon Bradford Franklin, policy director of the think tank New America’s Open Technology Institute, said Abbott ‘does not have the right understanding’ of federal regulations. She said that Article 230 on social media platforms and all websites gives the ability to decide which speech they want to present and which speech they want to take down.
While states can impose their own privacy laws on social media platforms, federal law prohibits enacting their own laws governing content on those platforms, Franklin added. “If a law has to change, Texas can’t do it on its own,” she said. “I feel confident that any court will believe that a law passed by a state to regulate content on social media platforms is not allowed.”
Conservatives have long claimed to be censored on social media sites, though there is little independent evidence to support it. In a study released by the University of New York last month, no reliable support was found for the statement that conservatives are regularly blacklisted on social media sites.
Nevertheless, conservative censorship complaints have become increasingly harsh since Facebook, Twitter and others tried to curb calls to violence following the January 6 riot in the Capitol. This year alone, Republican lawmakers in 20 states have introduced bills that allow their citizens to sue social media companies if they ‘degenerate’, according to David Horowitz of the Media Coalition, a nonprofit that focuses on the first amendment issues .
While states are trying to articulate the issue that Facebook should be regulated like a public square, in which all speech is protected, Horowitz believes the states will find it difficult to pass that level of regulation on their own. The biggest obstacle: the internet works across state lines. Any new regulations imposed on Facebook in one state could affect the company in another. “There is no way for Texas to guarantee that its rules will only govern Texans,” Horowitz said.
What’s more, Horowitz said, courts have long confirmed that business owners also have their own rights to free speech. “If a bookstore does not want to sell a book, the government cannot force it to do so,” Horowitz said. “I think social media platforms have the same rights.”