Source: Arnold Wells / WENN
The State of Texas has been in the news a lot with all sorts of new laws passing left and right, from voting to abortion.
Now, there the passing of a law that targets social media when it comes to users being banned.
House Bill 20 is the latest piece of legislation to be signed by Governor Greg Abbott.
Many expect this to be another new piece of law in the state that really benefits members of the GOP.
From Complex:
The legislation, which was passed by the state Senate earlier this month, aims to crackdown on popular platforms that allegedly censor conservative viewpoints. Under the law, any web service with at least 50 million active users in the United States will be prohibited from blocking or restricting content based on the creator’s political ideas. It will also require social media sites—including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube—to submit regular reports about removed content, disclose their regulation procedures, as well as create a complaint system in which users can challenge restrictive measures.
Gov. Abbott said he was “proud to sign House Bill 20 into law to protect first amendment rights” before adding that the social platforms “are a place for healthy public debate where information should be able to flow freely — but there is a dangerous movement by social media companies to silence conservative viewpoints and ideas.”
The new law also forbids “email service providers ‘from impeding the transmission of email messages based on content.’”
Not everyone is applauding the new law as those who opposed the measure see it as censorship.
HB20 is seen by opponents as “unconstitutional” with potential consequences for social media platforms when it comes to trying to ban and remove hateful images and statements in which those who promote those materials see it as free speech and “good politics.”
This would make it impossible for the tech giants to protect its sites from material that could be potentially offensive.
You can expect HB20 to be the new target of federal lawsuits.
With new laws being approved in Texas, who knows what the Lone Star state has cooking up next that will only protect the GOP and its followers.
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Article Courtesy of Complex
First Picture Courtesy of Cooper Neill and Getty Images
Second Picture Courtesy of Arnold Wells and WENN
Yet Another Law Has Passed in Texas, This Time Targeting Social Media was originally published on wzakcleveland.com
