Texas Fights Back Against Big Tech Censorship

NTD News reported: 

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said on Sunday that he was working on a bill with legislators in his state to prevent big tech companies taking action to moderate user content based on their political viewpoint.

“We are working with Sen. [Bryan] Hughes on legislation to prevent social media providers like Facebook & Twitter from cancelling conservative speech,” Abbott said in a statement on Twitter.

His announcement follows Florida’s move to pass legislation that would penalize social media companies that de-platform candidates during an election. The proposed law would fine companies $100,000 a day until the candidate’s access to the platform is restored.

Florida will also require companies who promote a candidate to record such endorsements as a political campaign contribution at the state’s election commission.

Fox Business had more: 

"We filed a bill about this during the last session two years ago, it passed the Senate did not make it through the House,” Hughes told WFAA’s Inside Texas Politics in an interview on Sunday. "So the bill we’re getting ready to file will say that if a company discriminates against you, deplatforms you, blocks you, kicks you off based on your viewpoint, based on your politics, your religion, based on viewpoint discrimination, it will give you a way to get back online.”

According to Hughes, the previous bill looked at different options for how users can bring discrimination lawsuits against the social media giants.

"What we would like to do is to give any Texan who's being discriminated against, the option to bring an action and we think that will get Facebook's attention, get Twitter's attention, and cause them to start treating Texans fairly,” Hughes added.