Thursday saw Governor Greg Abbott sign a bill that would prohibit multinational social media companies from banning users. This will be geared towards their attempt at blocking content that was based on the political leanings of the social media company. This law will be targeting companies like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, where there are around 50 million monthly users in the USA itself.
This legislation, billed from the governor’s office, would be able to protect Texans from unfair censorship on social media. This will also allow them to sue the companies responsible.
Greg Abbott’s Law To Stop Anti-Conservative Bias
Greg Abbott, a Republican, posted a video on Facebook where he stated that was a dangerous move by several social media companies that would silence conservative values or ideas.
He feels that this is absolutely unjust and shouldn’t be allowed in Texas. This new law has been heralded in the wake of several Republican legislators claiming that social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms harbor bias against conservatives. On the other hand, the social media platforms readily denied these charges.
Back in June, a federal judge had already blocked a law from Florida which would punish social media companies for placing a ban on political candidates or politicians on their platforms.
The bill from Florida was signed by the Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, but it didn’t have the necessary leeway that Greg Abbott’s bill had. In the case against Florida, the judge decreed that the law was violating the free speech rights of the social media companies, and the legislation, on the whole, was impeccably viewpoint-based.
An internet industry group called NetChoice which sued the Florida bill has also criticized Greg Abbott’s Texas Law as being unconstitutional for its conflict with the First Amendment.