OPINION - New Florida Law Unlikely To Prevent Big Tech From Deplatforming Politicians

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 27th May, 2021) The new law introduced in Florida is unlikely to force US Big Tech companies, including Facebook and Twitter, to change its content moderation practices, which have been viewed by conservatives in the United States as a form of censorship, a US scholar specializing in communications and media studies told Sputnik.

On Monday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law the Senate Bill 7072, which prohibits Big Tech from deplatforming Floridian political candidates. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube could be fined up to $250,000 per day if they violate this new regulation. Republicans have been pushing the bill after tech companies banned former President Donald Trump over violations of the firms' rules on promotion of violence during the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.

"I think those actions will have little effect on those Big Tech companies, which will fight those regulations in the courts, and very likely win," Paul Levinson, Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University in New York, told Sputnik. "Big Tech blocking anyone violates what I call 'the spirit of the First Amendment,' but not the First Amendment itself, because Big Tech companies are not Congress or the government."

As Facebook and Twitter are private companies, their decisions to block or delete certain content would not be viewed as violations of the First Amendment, which says that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

" Some US conservatives argued that Big Tech should be subjected to the same kind of scrutiny as the US Congress and US government when it comes to protection of freedom of speech, because of their immense social influence today.

But Professor Levinson pointed out that the Big Tech companies were still very different from the US government, because they did not wield the power to arrest and punish people.

"Twitter and Facebook may be bigger than certain governments, but that doesn't make them governments. What distinguishes governments from big corporations is that governments have military and police to enforce their decisions, and Twitter, Facebook, and even the biggest corporations do not. The government can arrest you and put you in prison; big tech certainly cannot," he said.

Instead of trying to force Big Tech to change their content moderation practices, US conservatives would be better off establishing alternative social media platforms where they can express their views without disruptions, the expert suggested.

The scholar noted that Trump had already started his personal blog where he could continue to engage with his supporters.

Nevertheless, alternative social media platform Parler was forced to go offline shortly after the Capitol Riot in January, when most of the US web hosting services refused to work with it. Parler came back online in February with a new platform that was built on "sustainable, independent technology," as the company said.