Florida to fine social media for banning politicians, just not Disney
State will not account for temporary bans or bans earned from violating a platform's terms of service.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFToday’s youths prefer to share their feelings and emotions through texts and online, in social media, in chat platforms while gaming and in other similar settings(photo credit: SNAPPY GOAT)
Florida is looking to enact legislation that would punish social media platforms, except for Disney, for "knowingly de-platform[ing]" politicians, as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook did to former US President Donald Trump in January, according to The Verge.The report says that the legislation could invoke a $10,000 fine per day if a platform bans politicians and a $100,000 fine if the candidate is running for election. The House version of the bill multiplied each of those sums by two-and-a-half times.The legislation passed by a vote of 77-38 in the Florida House on Thursday, after originally being passed in the state's senate. The bill will return to the senate for approval of the changes made by the house.The legislation will not account for temporary bans or bans earned from violating a platform's terms of service.There was one interesting caveat to the bill:"The term does not include any information service, system, internet search engine, or access software provider operated by a company that owns and operates a theme park or entertainment complex," the bill read, meaning Disney would be exempt from any of these laws if and when they are to go into effect.The language could also exempt Twitter, Facebook or YouTube if they open their own theme parks in Florida in order to exempt themselves, although it is unclear how that would affect the legislation.Florida Rep. Blaise Ingoglia said that the exemption measures were so that Disney Plus "isn't caught up in this," Florida's top source of tourism revenue, according to The Verge.The bill would also target social media companies if they restrict an account with "journalistic" intent, regardless of the subject matter. These accounts are defined as having no fewer than 100,000 monthly users and 50,000 paid subscribers, the report said.
