Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis called on Congress to take action if Apple Inc. moved to take Twitter off the app store, saying that would constitute a “raw exercise of monopolistic power.”
DeSantis was discussing infrastructure projects in Duval County, Florida, when he pivoted to address several other issues — beginning with the continued COVID-related lockdowns and protests in China.
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— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) November 29, 2022
DeSantis began by citing reports that Apple was not allowing protesters to use the AirDrop function to communicate, arguing that was effectively “giving aid and comfort to the CCP.”
“And so you see that report and that’s very concerning,” he continued, going on to say that it was actually more concerning to hear reports that Apple might be planning to remove Twitter from the app store in the wake of billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s takeover of the platform.
“And then when you also hear reports that Apple is threatening to remove Twitter from the app store because Elon Musk is actually opening it up for free speech and is restoring a lot of accounts that were unfairly and illegitimately suspended for putting out accurate information about COVID, that’s like one of the main things that’s being reinstated,” DeSantis added.
The Florida Governor went on to not that the so-called “experts” had been wrong about a number of things, and Twitter’s “old regime” had acted swiftly to crush dissent rather than allowing honest discourse or letting anyone question the chosen narrative. “Their response was to try to just suffocate the dissent, and Elon Musk knows that’s not a winning formula,” he said.
“And so he’s providing free speech, and so if Apple responds to that by nuking them from the app store, you know, I think that would be a huge, huge mistake,” DeSantis concluded, arguing that a response from Congress would be warranted if Apple proceeded down that road. “And it would be a really raw exercise of monopolistic power that I think would merit a response from the United States Congress.”
“Don’t be a vassal of the CCP on one hand and then use your corporate power in the United States on the other to suffocate Americans and try to suppress their right to express themselves,” he warned.
DeSantis added as an aside that he knew there was still a lot of work to do with regard to Big Tech, but said that he was pleased with the progress that had already been made at Twitter in just the short time since Musk took over control of the platform.