September 13, 2021
Texas has now made it illegal for social media platforms to ban users “based on their political viewpoints.”
Prominent Republican politicians have accused Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and others of censoring conservative views.
Former US President Donald Trump was banned from both Facebook and Twitter after some of his supporters carried out a bloody attack on the Capitol in January.
The social media giants have all denied stifling conservative views, but have admitted to enforcing terms of service that prohibit content such as incitement to violence and co-ordinated disinformation.
The new law explicitly mentions that social media networks with more than 50 million users cannot ban people based on their political views, targeting large platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google’s YouTube.
Critics say the bill violates the constitutional right of private companies to decide what kind of content is allowed on their platforms.
The law is scheduled to be enforced by December and is already likely to be challenged in court.
Last May, Florida passed a law that prevented social media platforms from removing politicians from the platform, but certain parts of that law were suspended by a federal judge, who ruled that it violated the First Amendment’s right to free speech.
For more information, view the original story from BBC.
