Florida, in a First, Will Fine Social Media Companies That Bar Candidates

Florida became the first state to regulate how companies like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter moderate speech online, by imposing fines on social media companies that permanently bar political candidates for statewide office. The law, signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), is a direct response to Facebook’s and Twitter’s bans of former President Donald Trump in January. In addition to the fines for barring candidates, it makes it illegal to prevent some news outlets from posting to their platforms in response to the contents of their stories. Gov DeSantis said signing the bill meant that Floridians would be “guaranteed protection against the Silicon Valley elites.” “If Big Tech censors enforce rules inconsistently, to discriminate in favor of the dominant Silicon Valley ideology, they will now be held accountable,” he said. The Florida law makes it illegal to bar a candidate for state office for more than 14 days. Companies would be fined $250,000 per day for cases where they barred a candidate for statewide office. The fine is lower for candidates seeking other offices. The law says the platforms cannot take down or otherwise prioritize content from a “journalistic enterprise” that reaches a certain size.