In the early morning hours on Thursday, the Texas Senate approved legislation that would “prohibit social media companies with at least 100 million monthly users from blocking, banning, demonetizing or discriminating against a user based on their viewpoint or their location within Texas.” More from the Texas Tribune:
The measure, which would apply to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, among others, would also require the companies to disclose their content moderation policies, publish regular reports about the content they remove and create an appeals process for user content that has been taken down.
The Texas attorney general would be allowed to file suit against any company that violates a provision of the bill. If upheld in court, the attorney general could recoup “reasonable” attorney’s fees and investigative costs.
Hughes repeatedly referred to social media companies as “common carriers” (like cable or phone companies) even though they’ve never been classified as such. The issue moves to the state House where two identical bills have yet to move out of committees. It goes without saying that legal experts have raised doubts about the legality of the measure. What’s interesting to me is: the same people who say a baker doesn’t have to bake a cake for a same-sex couple now say Twitter or Facebook can’t boot someone for violating their terms of service by spreading misinformation on their platforms.
