Florida Bans FB, Twitter From Banning Politicians

Florida has banned tech sites from banning politicians from posting. The law takes effect on July 1st, 2021, but seems destined for the Supreme Court.

The law was first proposed in February, shortly after Facebook and Twitter banned then-President Donald Trump. It's now passed the legislature and has been signed into law by the state's governor.

Under the law, sites can still remove specific posts. They can also suspend a user for up to 14 days for violating its policies.

No Permanent Bans

However, the law bans longer suspensions or permanent bans for anyone known to be a candidate for political office, even if they violate the site's policies. The protection runs from the candidate entering the race to the point at which they withdraw or the day of the election, whichever comes first.

Banning such a candidate could mean a maximum penalty of up to $250,000 if they are running for a statewide office such as governor or Senator and $25,000 for local races.

Rather bizarrely, the law contains an exemption for any company "that owns and operates a theme park or entertainment complex" in Florida. That appears to be a measure specifically put in place to cover Disney, even though it doesn't currently run a social media platform. (Source: bbc.co.uk)

First Amendment In Question

The backers of the law say it is necessary to avoid a site "deplatforming" a candidate and thus giving their opponents an electoral affair. Political supporters say big tech firms can abuse their power to allow or ban users as a way to push the political views of the company's owners.

Critics say the law violates the First Amendment in a couple of ways. Firstly, it restricts the ability of businesses to control what does and doesn't appear on their websites, restricting their free speech.

Secondly, it contradicts an existing exemption that says websites have the the right to moderate content posted by users without breaching the First Amendment rights of those users. (Source: theverge.com)

What's Your Opinion?

Is this law reasonable? Should websites with "user content" have complete control over who can and can't post on their? Do big tech companies have too much control over how political candidates communicate with the public?