Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a proclamation on Tuesday calling for a special session that will include addressing its 2021 law held up in court that would protect citizens from censorship from social media platforms.
DeSantis shared the remarks during a speech discussing an upcoming special session of Florida’s legislature that will also address Disney’s status in the state. (Disclosure: The Daily Wire has announced plans for kids entertainment content.)
Near the end of his speech, the governor addressed the importance of moving forward with the current legal challenges to Florida’s law against big tech censorship.
“Some of the things we did in that bill was not allow big tech companies to ban candidates for office because you really could have a situation where someone down the stretch, you have all these Senate races or something, and what are they going to do? They’re going to de-platform all the Republican nominees to be able to help their party?” the governor said.
DeSantis also noted that the law “gave individual Floridians the opportunity to use Florida’s unfair and deceptive trade practices act to sue big tech if they are censored or deplatformed.”
In a proclamation from the governor’s office on Tuesday, the details regarding the special session noted, “Florida appealed this ruling to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Case No. 21-12355.”
On April 28, oral arguments are scheduled before the Eleventh Circuit court. The proclamation argued, “Florida must prevail in its position that a state can regulate the arbitrary and inconsistent censorship practices of social media platforms due to the platforms’ unprecedented power over the free flow of information and ideas.”
In December, DeSantis called out Big Tech’s censorship of conservatives following the release of a new Heritage Foundation video that noted the vast disparity of censorship between Republican and Democratic House members.
“Big Tech has become the censorship arm of the Democratic Party and political left, silencing and de-platforming anyone who rejects the chosen left-wing narrative,” DeSantis said on Twitter in December.
“Silicon Valley oligarchs shouldn’t be the arbiters of free speech in our country. We must fight back!” he added.
Big Tech has become the censorship arm of the Democratic Party and political left, silencing and de-platforming anyone who rejects the chosen left-wing narrative.
Silicon Valley oligarchs shouldn't be the arbiters of free speech in our country. We must fight back! https://t.co/7x3UZGDlrT
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantisFL) December 2, 2021
The May 2021 Florida bill said, “Big Tech is prohibited from de-platforming Floridian political candidates. The Florida Election Commission will impose fines of $250,000 per day on any social media company that de-platforms any candidate for statewide office, and $25,000 per day for de-platforming candidates for non-statewide offices.”
The law was soon stopped by a court injunction. The Daily Wire reported that in his injunction, U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle argued that banning “de-platforming” likely violated the free speech rights of the tech companies, writing, “The legislation compels providers to host speech that violates their standards — speech they otherwise would not host — and forbids providers from speaking as they otherwise would.”
The issue became important in 2020 as several conservative and Republican political candidates were banned or suspended on major social media platforms. Most notably, then-President Donald Trump was permanently banned from Twitter following the events of January 6, 2021.