Florida Governor Ron DeSantis revealed during an interview on Tuesday night three things that his state is doing to take on tech companies.
DeSantis made the remarks during an interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson about a new law that he is proposing in his state.
“I think they’re we’re going to do three different things,” DeSantis told Carlson. “One is protect Floridian’s data privacy from big tech, which is a huge issue, as you said, protect big tech from interfering in an election. And that may mean you display you deplatform, a candidate you don’t like–two guesses as to which type of candidate big tech wouldn’t like–but it also means doing the algorithms in a way that will suppress stories, or accelerate them to benefit a candidate, that’s effectively an in kind contribution.”
“And then the general protections for deplatforming users and what we’re allowing people to do is bring civil suits under the Florida deceptive and unfair trade practices statute and anti-fraud statute and also allowing the State Attorney General to do that as well, if big tech is not applying their terms of service in a in a coherent and principled way, which they almost never do,” DeSantis continued. “So we think that this is something that Floridians want protection from, and I think it’ll end up being a really good first step. I mean, there’s always been the question, what do you do about this, I think a lot of us have thought there was something wrong for a long time. But to just sit back and hope it gets better, that clearly wasn’t going to work. So we’re leading, and I think it’ll be good.”
After talking about the support that he thought that the bill would receive in the Florida legislature, DeSantis noted that the issue is not just with social media platforms.
“And it’s not just being banned from Twitter or something,” DeSantis said. “As we’ve seen these these companies can act, they can collude, they can deny you if you’re a small business of payment processing, the ability to use email and text. So what, you go to a rally that they don’t like or you engage in wrong thing, and all of a sudden, your flower business is decapitated for a month because they take action. So I think we’ve gone down a dangerous path on this. This provides protections for individual Floridians. And I think it’ll be very positively received.”
WATCH:
TRANSCRIPT:
TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS HOST: Ron DeSantis is the governor of Florida, the free State, and he’s doing what no elected Republican we’re aware of nationwide has done. He’s proposing a new law that would fine big tech companies for censoring political candidates. Companies that remove a candidate for office would face $100,000 in fines every day until the candidates access to the tech platform is restored. Additionally, the law would require that big tech companies give advance notice before they ban users. Governor Ron DeSantis joins us tonight to explain this. Governor, thanks so much for coming on. Did we characterize that correctly, what this law would do?
RON DESANTIS, GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA (R): Yeah, and it’s more than that. I think they’re we’re gonna do three different things. One is protect Floridian’s data privacy from big tech, which is a huge issue, as you said, protect big tech from interfering in an election. And that may mean you display you deplatform, a candidate you don’t like–two guesses as to which type of candidate big tech wouldn’t like–but it also means doing the algorithms in a way that will suppress stories, or accelerate them to benefit a candidate, that’s effectively an in kind contribution. And then the general protections for deplatforming users and what we’re allowing people to do is bring civil suits under the Florida deceptive and unfair trade practices statute and anti-fraud statute and also allowing the State Attorney General to do that as well, if big tech is not applying their terms of service in a in a coherent and principled way, which they almost never do. So we think that this is something that Floridians want protection from, and I think it’ll end up being a really good first step. I mean, there’s always been the question, what do you do about this, I think a lot of us have thought there was something wrong for a long time. But to just sit back and hope it gets better, that clearly wasn’t going to work. So we’re leading, and I think it’ll be good.
CARLSON: But no one has done anything. This is the first example of this that we have seen in this country. I know in Eastern Europe it has been tried. Who is opposed to this? We would love to know their names.
DESANTIS: Well, stay tuned, Tucker. This is going to be a big fight in the legislative session, hopefully, we’ll be able to get a lot of support. I think most folks do want protections for their privacy and their data. I think most folks want protections from being the deplatform. And it’s not just being banned from Twitter or something. As we’ve seen these these companies can act, they can collude, they can deny you if you’re a small business of payment processing, the ability to use email and text. So what, you go to a rally that they don’t like or you engage in wrong thing, and all of a sudden, your flower business is decapitated for a month because they take action. So I think we’ve gone down a dangerous path on this. This provides protections for individual Floridians. And I think it’ll be very positively received. But what buckle were buckled up the Tucker, we know that there’s always fights over these things. So stay tuned.
CARLSON: Yeah, I mean, this really does set the standard for the rest of the country. It’ll be fascinating to see who comes out of the woodwork to oppose it very quickly. Can if Florida, if you get this through the legislature in Florida, will it have implications for the rest of the country?
DESANTIS: I think it will, because what we found Tucker is when Florida leads and other states start following. So I think you will see other legislators follow suit. But I also think it’s just a situation we’re very mobile society. I mean, Florida laws may actually have an effect on folks who who are visiting here all the time. So I think it’s going to be it’s going to have an effect one way or another beyond our borders.’
CARLSON: Maybe there’s a reason people are moving to Florida just to guess, Governor DeSantis, appreciate your coming on tonight. Thank you.
DESANTIS: Thanks, Tucker.