A federal judge has blocked recently enacted Florida legislation prohibiting Big Tech companies from de-platforming political figures and engaging in censorship against conservative users.
The anti-censorship law, which was set to go into effect on Thursday, was blocked by a federal judge, who said it would threaten their editorial judgment.
RT reports: Florida SB 7072, signed into law by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis in May, was scheduled to go into effect on July 1. On Wednesday evening, however, US District Court Judge Robert Hinkle issued an injunction blocking it.
BYPASS THE CENSORS
Sign up to get unfiltered news delivered straight to your inbox.
You can unsubscribe any time. By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use
Hinkle was responding to a lawsuit by two Silicon Valley trade associations, NetChoice LLC and Computer & Communications Industry Association, who argued that the law violated their First Amendment rights by “interfering with the providers’ editorial judgment, compelling speech, and prohibiting speech,” among other things.
“Balancing the exchange of ideas among private speakers is not a legitimate governmental interest,” Hinkle argued in the 31-page ruling, nor is “leveling the playing field” by promoting speech on one side of the issue or another.
He also agreed with the plaintiffs that the “actual motivation” for the law was hostility towards Big Tech’s “perceived liberal viewpoint,” citing public statements DeSantis made about the bill.
The judge went even further, arguing that social media platforms need to exercise “editorial judgment” much like the traditional media in order to curate their content, without which their sites would become “unacceptable” and “useless” to most users.
Platforms sometimes block users for “engaging in fraud, spreading a foreign government’s disinformation, inciting a riot or insurrection, providing false medical or public-health information, or attempting to entice minors for sexual encounters,” Hinkle wrote, listing the grounds Silicon Valley has invoked to ban thousands of people over the past several years – including then-President Donald Trump in January.
Social media companies have used Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to claim blanket immunity from content liability lawsuits, on grounds of being platforms and not publishers – a distinction Hinkle’s explanation seems to erase.
While DeSantis himself has not commented on the case – apparently focusing on the ongoing search and rescue operations at the collapsed condominium in Surfside – his office told the Daily Caller they are “disappointed” by the ruling and plan to “immediately” appeal the case to the Eleventh Circuit.
How much $ did the Judge recieve from facebook, twitter, etc?
America needs to start trashing and destroying these traitorous commie judges.
Big Tech are totally corrupt crim7nals who should be in jail for all of the crimes they commit under the rule of laws len iency to let them literally act like the Vatican’s new age Mafioso thugs And most of the Greek morons that work there ,the trendy geeks with good standing with their criminal banks and the drug money laundering cohorts in ” community values ” dont even have the foggiest clue what theyre really doing or whose actually pulling their chain But ignorance is no excuse and they are criminals abusing their position of trust and they are the viruses and the hackers and tbe Trojans and worms Them .The ” goodies ” They’re the ones who ,obeying orders from their legal departments, wreck your devices so you have to pay for repairs or replacements Them the goodies All in it together. Medusa .