State lawmaker in Michigan files legislation aimed at holding tech giants liable for “viewpoint discrimination” in war to preserve free speech
07/09/2019 / By JD Heyes
States are said to be the “laboratories of democracy” in that under our federalist system, we have 50 semi-autonomous entities that are free to experiment with laws and policies to see which ones are most effective for them.
That’s a very important aspect of state sovereignty because not only are state lawmakers closer to the people, they can act much more quickly than the federal government or Congress and, usually, much more efficiently and effectively.
Because majority Democrats in the House are all afflicted with Trump Derangement Syndrome, the Donkey Party has steadfastly refused to help the White House solve any issues or problems, whether they have to do with our porous southwestern border and asylum loopholes or censorship of certain political, cultural, and social points of view by big tech via their social media platforms.
That’s because refusing to help the Trump administration and, by default Republicans, solve these issues is beneficial to Democrats, even though failing to help resolve them is tearing at the social fabric of our country.
As to big tech censorship, congressional inaction has led state lawmakers to consider solutions. Enter Michigan.
State Rep. John O’Reilly of Oakland Township has introduced legislation in response to a recently released undercover video from Project Veritas showing that Google executives were actively engaging in and plotting election interference heading into the 2020 elections as a way of preventing POTUS Donald Trump from being reelected.
His bill, HB 4801, would eliminate Orwellian Big Tech censorship by banning “viewpoint discrimination,” according to Big League Politics.
“This isn’t a question of property rights. This is a question of fraud,” Reilly said in a press release regarding his bill. “In this modern era, social media networks are the new public square. Banning – and worse, secretly banning while deceiving the user into believing their content is being shared equally – excludes individuals from public life.”
“Social media companies cannot eat their cake and have it too. They cannot enjoy the privileges of being a platform, such as immunity from liability for users’ content, while also enjoying the privileges of being a publisher to control what everyone may or may not say on their network,” he noted further.
Anti-trust actions against Big Tech are coming next
Big League Politics noted:
Michigan HB4801 would alter the state’s Consumer Protection Act to ban “a provider of an interactive computer service” that claims it is “viewpoint neutral, impartial, or nonbiased” from being able to “block a user’s speech; censor a user’s speech; ban a user; remove a user’s speech; shadow ban a user; deplatform a user; deboost a user; demonetize a user; otherwise restrict the speech of a user” based on their political views.
If the tech giants do not follow the legislation, should it pass, state residents targeted by the tech giants would be empowered to file civil lawsuits in the state seeking monetary damages. (Related: Google Chrome has devolved into nothing more than “surveillance software” that spies on its own users.)
Anti-conservative tech giants may think they are above the law, but O’Reilly seeks to remind them that they are not — even if Congress refuses to do anything.
O’Reilly’s bill would have to pass out of the Michigan House Communications and Technology Committee before it can come before the entire chamber for a vote. It’s not clear if it will pass or if it will make it out of the Senate or whether Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer would even sign it.
That said, some companies are also seeking to act in Congress’ stead, The Wall Street Journal reported last month — as is the Trump administration. Specifically, they are looking to launch anti-trust investigations and potential lawsuits against Google, though other actions against additional tech platforms could also be forthcoming.
“In industries from news to travel and online shopping, Google’s competitors are readying documents and data in anticipation of meetings with the Justice Department, according to industry representatives,” the paper said.
Read more about how the tech giants are being targeted by the Trump White House at TechGiants.news and WhiteHouse.news.
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Tagged Under: anti-trust, ban, bias, censor, Censorship, Congress, democrats, deplatform, Facebook, First Amendment, Google, lawsuit, legislation, Michigan, Orwellian, Project Veritas, speech police, state government, Suppressed, tech giants, thought police, Trump administration, Twitter
