The bill is an extension of a push by Governor Ron DeSantis, who launched an offensive against social media companies in February when then-President Donald Trump, was permanently suspended from Twitter for his alleged role in inciting violence on January 6 at the U.S. Capitol.
DeSantis has also accused Twitter and Facebook of censoring conservative rhetoric and called on lawmakers to punish Big Tech companies that suspend accounts of political candidates and elected officials. Democrats have criticized the bill as partisan tit-for-tat and a popularity stunt to win favor with the Republican base.
“Let’s send a message to these Big Tech monopolies that Florida will no longer stand for their shenanigans,” GOP state Representative Blaise Ingoglia said.
“This bill is a retaliation for the former presidential administration being banned from social media sites by spreading false information, inciting riots, sedition, and violence,” said state Representative Anna Eskamani, a Democrat who sought to kill the effort in her chamber.
For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below.
Republicans managed to revive the bill after it died early on Wednesday when an accompanying bill failed, albeit by a thin margin.
Social media platforms have become modern-day public squares, and Republicans accuse social media companies of censoring conservative thought by removing posts companies consider inflammatory or using algorithms that reduce the visibility of posts that go against the grain of mainstream ideas.
The First Amendment was central to the arguments of supporters and critics.
“If you vote against this bill, you’re voting against freedom of speech, you’re voting against equal protection, you’re voting for censorship,” GOP state Representative Thad Altman said in support of the measure. “We have evil people trying to silence our voice.”
Opponents defended the right of social media companies, as private entities, to control the flow of information on their platforms.
The social media proposals will have to return to the state Senate for final consideration before it would head to the governor for his signature.
The broader effort is to regulate how technology interacts with people’s daily lives. A separate package of bills dealing with consumer privacy is expected to be up for final consideration by the Florida Senate on Thursday.
The legislation would limit how businesses collect and use the information they harvest from people’s activities, including where they eat and shop, what they read and post online, and other information archived by Big Data.
