The Stop Socia Media Censorship Act presents a small-government solution to the mammoth problem of social media censorship.
With the introduction of the Stop Social Media Censorship Act, state lawmakers in Florida and Rhode Island are exercising their power over contract law jurisdiction to push back against the social media giants and ensure that the citizens in their states enjoy free speech.
The first part will treat any website that was not founded by a religious or political organization that has over 75,000,000 users and that is open to the public as public utilities or quasi-state actors, natural monopolies and the digital public square, which was cause them to comply with the state and Federal constitutions. Users victimized by websites will now have recourse to contract law, which is a state law issue.
These websites would become liable to users who are censored for religious and political reasons, because that kind of censorship constitutes breach of contract, fraudulent inducement, unjust enrichment, bad faith and unfair dealing.
“Victims of the breach will be permitted to sue the social media websites in the court of competent jurisdiction, and seek $75,000 in statutory damages, attorney fees, and costs, [etc.] They can also seek actual damages and punitive damages. Since the prevailing party will be compensated for their lawyers’ fees, this will discourage frivolous lawsuits.
The act agrees that there are valid reasons to censor material. However, the censorship of so-called “Hate Speech” that offends the arbitrary sensibilities of some Big Tech employees in Silicon Valley is per se bad faith, unfair dealing, fraudulent inducement and breech of contract. If Big Tech companies persist in censoring users over their religious or political views but become subject to a $75,000 settlement for every violation, they will stop abusing their users – as well they should, because their current behavior is immature, destructive of existing tort law and contract law.
If you like the sound of this, please contact your state representative and ask them to pass the #StopSocialMediaCensorshipAct!
Now, to go about getting this law put into place.
We need something like this on a Federal basis. Good start would be a “Fairness Doctrine” for the new millennium. Make it apply to all media, including internet, broadcast, print, the works. Outlets could express opinion but required to be labeled as such with equal time for opposing viewpoints.
great idea; solve a deep state created issue with more government. no thanks.