ATLANTA (AP) — The Georgia state Senate voted 33 to 21 on Tuesday to pass legislation that would ban social media platforms from removing or censoring content amid conservatives who cry out that their political views are being discriminated against , although a similar Texas law was shelved by a federal court.
Senate Bill 393 moves to House of Representatives for further debate. It explains that social media companies with more than 20 million users in the United States are common carriers and that they cannot block people from seeing certain messages based on viewpoints, location, race, ethnicity, religion, political beliefs, gender and sexuality to obtain orientation or disability.
“What we’re saying here is that in this 21st-century public space, you must not be discriminated against because of your viewpoint, your gender, your age, or anything else,” said Sen. Greg Dolezal, a Cumming Republican who supports the bill .
Dolezal said companies can still pull down indecent, obscene, or indecent materials.
State Senate Republicans have made the measure a priority this year. The move comes after social media companies banned Donald Trump in the closing days of his presidency, adding to claims that conservatives are being treated unfairly.
But the tech industry says the measure is illegal, in part because it would unconstitutionally result in private companies making speeches they disagree with. They also argue that private owners should be able to do whatever they want with their own property.
Sen. Jen Jordan, a Sandy Springs Democrat, said she “has no objection to the fact that social media companies are getting out of control,” but said the Republican proposal would be struck down and that Congress must act instead.
“I think it’s unconstitutional and I think federal law prevents it,” Jordan said. “From a very serious standpoint, this needs to be dealt with at the federal level.”
Dolezal has acknowledged that the state would be sued if it passes the law, but argues that a challenge could be heard in the US Supreme Court, breaking new and desirable ground.
Researchers have found no widespread evidence that social media companies are biased towards conservative news, posts, or materials.
In a 2021 report, New York University’s Stern Center for Business and Human Rights called the allegations made by Republicans political disinformation.
The dispute boils down to whether lawmakers and judges view Facebook more as a phone company that must serve all users who pay their bills, or as a print publisher that can say whatever it wants and ignore other perspectives within broad guidelines.
The bill says social media companies must publicize how they moderate content, target content to specific users, and how they increase reach or hide specific content. It also states that social media companies must publish a report every six months on how often they have been made aware of potentially illegal content and how often they have removed or downplayed content and banned or removed users.
Anyone who believes a company is not following the law could bring a civil action, including a class action, in the Georgia courts.
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Follow Jeff Amy on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jeffamy.
