The U.S. state of Texas “has made it illegal for social media platforms to ban users ‘based on their political viewpoints’,” repots the BBC:
Prominent Republican politicians have accused Facebook, Twitter and others of censoring conservative views… The social networks have all denied stifling conservative views. However, they do enforce terms of service which prohibit content such as incitement to violence and co-ordinated disinformation. “Social media websites have become our modern-day public square,” said Texas governor Greg Abbott, after signing the bill into law on Thursday. “They are a place for healthy public debate where information should be able to flow freely….”
The new law states social media platforms with more than 50 million users cannot ban people based on their political viewpoints. Facebook, Twitter and Google’s YouTube are within its scope…
The law is due to come in to force in December, but may face legal challenges.
“Critics say the law does not respect the constitutional right of private businesses to decide what sort of content is allowed on their platforms,” the BBC adds, with the president of NetChoice trade association arguing that the bill “would put the Texas government in charge of content policies.”
of this story at Slashdot.
Source:: Slashdot