Warning: Constant ABSPATH already defined in /home/flanews/public_html/wp-config.php on line 34
Capitol News Service » Blog Archive » State Denied Extra Time to Develop Defense of Big Tech Censorship Law

Welcome to

Capitol News Service

Florida's Best Political Coverage on Television

 


 


 


Recent Posts

RSS Quote of the Day

  • Charles Baudelaire
    "Everything that is beautiful and noble is the product of reason and calculation."
  • Wilson Mizner
    "The best way to keep your friends is not to give them away."
  • Benjamin Disraeli
    "Silence is the mother of truth."
  • H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
    "Never forget the three powerful resources you always have available to you: love, prayer, and forgiveness."

State Denied Extra Time to Develop Defense of Big Tech Censorship Law

June 11th, 2021 by Jake Stofan

A federal judge has rejected the state’s request for more time to defend the new social media censorship law, which takes effect July 1st.

The law carries penalties as high as $250,000 a day for deplatforming political candidates.

In hopes of getting more time to develop a defense, the state said it would delay enforcement until August 1st.

NetChoice Vice President Carl Szabo said the state should not have been caught off guard by the lawsuit.

“The state knew time and time again they were going to be tested on this lawsuit,” said Szabo. “Everything they’re complaining about they’ve known for months.”

He added the deal proposed by the state didn’t offer much, if any, protection to social media companies.

“The state may delay enforcement, that doesn’t mean they’ll delay accruing the penalties for future enforcement,” said Szabo.

The state’s deal also would have done nothing to prevent a flood of civil litigation from individual users, who under the law, are allowed to sue if they believe they’re wrongly de-platformed.

“So in short, the state was not offering much and the burdens that the bill creates would still have persisted for our members,”,” said Matthew Schrues, President of the Computer & Communications Industry Association. “The only meaningful relief that we can get at this point is a prompt ruling on the merits that this statute is unconstitutional.”

The judge agreed with the tech companies and denied the state’s request.

Szabo said he’s confident the law will never see the light of day.

“It doesn’t take a rock star to know that this law is unconstitutional and flies in the face of the First Amendment. The state just can’t come down on a private industry and tell them that they have to say something that the state wants you to say,” said Szabo.

A hearing on the tech companies’ request to block the law from taking effect is set for June 28th.

A ruling is expected before the law’s July 1st implementation date.

While the tech companies said they’re confident they will ultimately prevail, we were also told they fully expect the case will drag out to the appellate level and potentially the US Supreme Court.

Posted in State News | No Comments »

Comments are closed.

copyright © 2016 by Capitol News Service | Powered by Wordpress | Hosted by LyonsHost.com