{"id":18909,"date":"2021-05-25T06:13:44","date_gmt":"2021-05-25T10:13:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=18909"},"modified":"2021-05-25T06:13:44","modified_gmt":"2021-05-25T10:13:44","slug":"florida-governor-signs-bill-to-ban-big-tech-deplatforming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2021\/05\/25\/florida-governor-signs-bill-to-ban-big-tech-deplatforming\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida governor signs bill to ban Big Tech ‘deplatforming’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a first-in-the-nation bill that can penalise tech companies for deplatforming politicians.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The legislation<\/a>\u00a0states that platforms can only suspend accounts for 14 days, and will be fined as much as $250,000 (\u00a3176,000) per day for violations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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NetChoice, a tech lobbying group whose members include Twitter and Facebook,\u00a0testified against the bill in March<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The bill, believed to be the first of its kind, will take effect on 1 July.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Mr DeSantis has been vocal about Big Tech, arguing that platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are silencing conservative voices.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Earlier this year,\u00a0he said<\/a>\u00a0Big Tech had “come to look more like Big Brother”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Legal challenges are expected, with opponents contending that the bill violates Americans’ constitutional rights to free speech.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Critics also say the new law could have unintended consequences.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In March, Steve DelBianco, NetChoice’s chief executive, said while testifying against the bill: “Imagine if the government required a church to allow user-created comments or third-party advertisements promoting abortion on its social media page.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Just as that would violate the First Amendment [guaranteeing the right to free speech], so too does [this bill] since it would similarly force social media platforms to host content they otherwise would not allow.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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‘Everyday Floridians’<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
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Former US President Donald Trump was banned by Twitter and Facebook and suspended by YouTube after the Capitol Hill riot in January.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Earlier this month, Facebook’s Oversight Board\u00a0decided to uphold the platform’s decision<\/a>, but asked the social network to review the decision within six months.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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With Mr Trump barred from multiple platforms, it is unclear what this new Florida law means for any potential comeback for the former president.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Twitter declined to comment. Facebook and YouTube have not responded to the BBC’s request for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Mr Trump spent the first few months of his time after leaving office in Florida. He and Mr DeSantis are seen as ideological bedfellows.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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According to the\u00a0Tampa Bay Times<\/a>, Mr DeSantis was asked if this bill was meant to help Mr Trump, to which he replied: “This bill is for everyday Floridians.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Exemptions from the law<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
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The legislation includes a clause that exempts a company “that owns and operates a theme park or entertainment complex”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Florida is home to the Disney World theme park.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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NBC Miami<\/a>\u00a0reported some lawmakers saw this as “hypocritical”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“If Facebook buys a theme park, does that prevent us from being able to regulate what happens on Facebook?” asked Andrew Learned, a Democratic member of Florida’s House of Representatives.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“So, if they bought a theme park and named it Zuckerland and he met the definition of a theme park under Florida statute, then yes,” said Republican Representative Blaise Ingoglia.<\/p>\n

Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a first-in-the-nation bill that can penalise tech companies for deplatforming politicians. The legislation\u00a0states that platforms can only suspend accounts for 14 days, and will be fined as much as […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18910,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[109,2,3],"tags":[285,335,417,7792,1312,2557,3154],"class_list":{"0":"post-18909","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headline","8":"category-news","9":"category-usa","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-facebook","12":"tag-florida","13":"tag-governor-ron-desantis","14":"tag-social-media","15":"tag-twitter","16":"tag-youtube","17":"pmpro-has-access"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18909"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18912,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18909\/revisions\/18912"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}