All Florida Citizens Now Have Right To Sue If They Feel Their Online Commenting Rights Were Violated.
BY: STAFF REPORT | BocaNewsNow.com
BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2021 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and other “big tech” companies with public commenting ability are now warned: if you ban Florida politicians from your service, you will face fines of $250,000 a day.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Monday signed S.B. 7072 into law. Among the other highlights:
- All Floridians treated unfairly by Big Tech platforms will have the right to sue companies that violate this law — and win monetary damages. This reform safeguards the rights of every Floridian by requiring social media companies to be transparent about their content moderation practices and give users proper notice of changes to those policies, which prevents Big Tech bureaucrats from “moving the goalposts” to silence viewpoints they don’t like.
- The Attorney General of Florida can bring action against technology companies that violate this law, under Florida’s Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act. If social media platforms are found to have violated antitrust law, they will be restricted from contracting with any public entity. That “antitrust violator” blacklist imposes real consequences for Big Tech oligopolies’ bottom line.
- Big Tech is prohibited from de-platforming Floridian political candidates. The Florida Election Commission will impose fines of $250,000 per day on any social media company that de-platforms any candidate for statewide office, and $25,000 per day for de-platforming candidates for non-statewide offices. Any Floridian can block any candidate they don’t want to hear from, and that is a right that belongs to each citizen — it’s not for Big Tech companies to decide.
Whether S.B. 7072 protects all speech remains to the be seen. An example often used is yelling “fire” inside of a movie theater. Big Tech may argue that moderators need to be able to control defamatory, violent, hate and other speech that could lead to violence. Expect 7072 to end up in court.
