Former President Trump was banned from Twitter and suspended from Facebook earlier this year after the January 6th attacks on the Capitol. Subsequently, many conservatives spoke out about the tech industry’s dramatic concentration of power when it comes to freedom of expression. Now, this new bill from Florida is poised to address the problem in the least helpful way possible, by fining social media companies for banning politicians. The fines are only incurred if the politicians are permanently banned, so temporary bans of less than 14 days will not draw the ire of the bill. As for what spurred the bill into existence, Florida conservatives insist the timing is just a coincidence. Let’s be honest, that’s pretty hard to believe. Even if that were the case though, the bill doesn’t do much to address the actual concerns of the tech industry’s decided overreach. Additionally, it would seem that Florida Republicans aren’t thinking about the grander scope of this kind of law. NetChoice, a free expression advocacy group that testified against the bill, put this lack of insight into perspective: Simply put, this kind of overarching bill doesn’t take into consideration the nuances of the social media landscape, as is a common problem with politicians trying to make laws for the digital ecosystem. Plus, when a law like this one is so riddled with hypocritical exceptions, it’s hard to take it seriously. As such, the bill can be found with a clear special-interest exception that calls its legitimacy into question. Curbing the unbridled power of the tech industry is a bipartisan issue at this point. However, bills like this do little to actually address many of the concerns, and merely adds to the partisan bickering so common in the political process. Plus, if you can’t stand up to DisneyWorld, what hope do you have of taking on the entire tech industry?
