Florida plans to fine social media for banning politicians | Hacker News Reader

Florida plans to fine social media for banning politicians

bbc.com

6 pointskvnhn11 comments

Social media responds by banning all Florida politicians.

So if Twitter were to ban Osama Bin Laden (assuming he weren't dead), or some other horrible dictator or leader who could be considered a "politician" in their part of the world... they'd get fined by Florida?

I haven't read the entire bill [0], but it seems the large fines are limited to people running for statewide office in Florida during an election. [1] And there are smaller fines if it's a candidate who's running for a non-state position (like mayor).

[0] https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2021/7072/BillText/e1/... [1] https://www.wfla.com/news/florida/gov-desantis-holds-press-c...

If this is the only way to stop deplatforming, fine with me. People should have access to the commons unless they are advocating censorship or posting illegal content. Otherwise,

"sunlight is the best disinfectant."--Oliver Wendell Holmes

Go start your own blog, then I'll post opposing views all night and day but you can never delete any of my comments no matter how many F-bombs I lay at your door, because your site is as MUCH a "commons" as Twitter, Facebook, etc.

My blog isn't a commons. If it were, you should not be censored. I've published a few articles on LinkedIn. If you want to drop F-bombs, go ahead. Americans use obscenity to show sincerity and emphasis. I have no problem with that.

In some places, FB is the Internet. Was it the UN that said that "access to the Internet is now a human right"?

It's ironic that a thrice-bankrupted B-list reality TV star has become a martyr for censorship.

Why politicians only?

IMO big part current tech tragedy is lack of support - companies raking record margins, yet we keep reading horror stories how accounts getting banned for asking a question, etc.

How would Florida enforce this for a company that isn't based in Florida? Or for deplatforming politicians outside Florida? I don't see how they have jurisdiction here.

Strangely you are exempt if you’re a kind of entertainment company with a large volume of customers.

Isn't that what social media is? An "entertainment" company?

I feel reddit/hn are different you do get some good conversations ... but FB and Twitter... are horrible for any sort of conversation/filtering etc.... granted I follow a ton of people when I used to do SM marketing 10 years ago, but I feel it's micro-format makes it so people are mis-understood, taken out of context, or don't have enough room to really make their point.

FB/Twitter is an all out left/right war online... Reddit you know the "tone" whether I'm lurking in conservative, hanging out in socialist/syndicalist/anarchist/late-state-capitalism subs, or technology or politics, you generally find different "voices" and opinions. Lots of sarcasm but that is how I am too... so it's much more my "style" of social net.

This bill applies to all social media platforms that do business in Florida and have at least 100,000 monthly active users or 50,000 paid subscribers. The exemption seems to be for Disney:

> “Theme park or entertainment complex” means a complex comprised of at least 25 contiguous acres owned and controlled by the same business entity and which contains permanent exhibitions and a variety of recreational activities and has a minimum of 1 million visitors annually.

Source: https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2011/509.013

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