Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Announces Bill Prohibiting Social Media Censorship

[yuna628 9,676]

11 hours ago, Prizm123 said:

cool. i could post anything i want here without repercussions!

Would seem that way. Simply claim you live in Texas and you can get away with anything.

 

((obviously this bill is a nonsense stunt but it does make for hilarious hypotheticals))

[Prizm123 1,086]

6 hours ago, yuna628 said:

Would seem that way. Simply claim you live in Texas and you can get away with anything.

 

((obviously this bill is a nonsense stunt but it does make for hilarious hypotheticals))

i actually do live in TX

[Prizm123 1,086]

8 hours ago, Dashinka said:

Why not just ban social media, China does that.

you may be saying it in jest, i dont really know, its hard to have that context, but honestly, i don't think that would be a horrible idea. social media is a scourge

[Dashinka 24,493]

7 minutes ago, Prizm123 said:

you may be saying it in jest, i dont really know, its hard to have that context, but honestly, i don't think that would be a horrible idea. social media is a scourge

I am a firm believer that the cons of most social media (especially Twitter, FB, IG, etc.) greatly outweigh the pros in most instances.  Of course VJ itself is social media, but I treat that differently since it does have a specific purpose.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

19 hours ago, Prizm123 said:

cool. i could post anything i want here without repercussions!

Apparently, yes. I would start researching decent First Amendment attorneys in your locality now. 

 

I jest. This is, of course, a delectable morsel of yummy "sock it to the Dems"-manship, cooked up for the delight of Republicans' rarefied palates, but alas lacking any nutritional value, or the ability to withstand judicial review. The government cannot* compel a private actor to speak in a particular manner any more than it can prevent a private actor from doing the same.

 

Imagine if Gov. Abbott could force you, Prizm, to say, "I like Donald Trump. He was better than Biden. I want to vote for him again and again."** I presume that that is not something that would naturally come out of your mouth unless said with the utmost sarcasm. Of course Abbott can't make you say that without violating your First Amendment rights. Nor can he compel Facebook or Twitter or any private actor to publish matter of which it does not approve. Terms of service on these fora make clear that those posting therein may remove posts that violate those terms of service. If you don't like the deal, you don't need to enter into the agreement to abide by the terms. And if you don't enter into the agreement, you can't post. It's not that difficult to think about.

 

Another way of looking at this bill is this: what does Abbott seek to do here but to replace the community standards of private communities with those of a state actor? What if we say the state is California, and now all social media platforms have to permit posts that mock people who support Trump? Do we really want Big Bad Gubmint in Sacramento stepping in and telling us here on VJ: Remove ye not the posts of liberals, for all are prized in the eyes of the Great and All Powerful Gavin Newsom? ~~ shivers ~~ 

 

We should be wary of any attempt by the government to restrict or compel speech, even if it makes us feel warm-n-fuzzy inside. This is a waste of money by a state that has some big problems that have been chucked its way in the past year. The law will not withstand judicial review at the first hurdle, and will fail again and again. Frivolous, feel-good nonsense that is, dare I say it, virtue-signalling to Abbott's base.

 

*There are some really minor exceptions to this, and nothing recent that I have come across. The most well-known one involved a company town, completely owned by a corporation, which sought to restrict certain kinds of speech. The court stepped in and said, get lost, you may be a corporation but you run everything in this town as if you were a government. So the First Amendment applies here and you have to let this speech be published.

 

**Name that SNL reference from the John Lovitz era!

[Prizm123 1,086]

2 hours ago, elmcitymaven said:

 

**Name that SNL reference from the John Lovitz era!

yeah... thats the ticket....

[Crtcl Rice Theory 2,432]

1 hour ago, Prizm123 said:

yeah... thats the ticket....

With my wife... Morgan Fairchild...