Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has signed a bill aimed at preventing social media companies from banning users or canceling posts based solely on political opinions, the latest Republican statement states. these tech giants censor conservative users.
The new law requires social media companies with more than 50 million monthly users to disclose their content moderation policies and institute an appeal process. It would also require these social media companies to remove illegal content within 48 hours.
Under state law, users can sue platforms to reset their accounts and the Texas Attorney General could file lawsuits on behalf of users.
“We will always stand up for freedom of speech in Texas, which is why I am proud to sign House Act 20 into law to protect rights of first amendment to the Lone Star State,” Abbott said in a statement. “Social networking websites have become our current public square. They are a place for healthy public debate where information should be able to flow freely, but there is a dangerous movement on the part of social media companies. to silence conservative views and ideas. That’s wrong, and we won’t allow it in Texas. ”
The new law would affect companies such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
It’s the latest Republican effort to confront the social media giants; Florida recently passed a law that would have banned social media platforms from banning political candidates, but in a federal judge blocked the law before it was supposed to come into force.
Some Republicans have claimed for years that social media companies have an anti-conservative bias, complaints that grew after former President Trump was unable to use Twitter and Facebook after his false claims about the 2020 presidential election that led to the ‘assault on the Capitol on January 6.
Democrats are also trying to challenge social media companies, albeit for different reasons. The White House has pushed social media companies like Facebook to work faster to eliminate misinformation from COVID-19.