Gaetz Slams Social Media Companies for "Editorializing"

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R)

This week, President Trump took part in a feud with Twitter, arguing that social media sites have a bias towards conservative voices. In response, the President tweeted a threat to “strongly regulate, or close them down.” Now, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz (R) is joining the conversation by announcing that he is “working on legislation to revise Section 230 so we don’t have election interference from companies like Twitter.”

Taking to Twitter to share an episode of his podcast Hot Takes with Matt Gaetz, the Florida lawmaker argued that his bill will prevent social media giants like Twitter and Facebook from fact-checking content on their platforms. The decision came after an incident on Tuesday where President Trump was fact-checked. The tweet in question involved the President arguing that “there is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Main-In Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent.”

In response to the incident, the Florida lawmaker expressed that “you see Twitter disadvantaging the president.” He added that “they enjoy liability protections that are not enjoyed by your local newspaper or your local TV station, or Fox News, or CNN, or MSNBC.”

Rep. Gaetz detailed that “they have special benefits under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act as digital platforms because they’re not creating content for which they should be liable.” So, Gaetz argues that “they’re not making decisions about content, they’re simply saying come one, come all with your content. And as a consequence of that, they’re getting a bunch of protections.”

In response, Gaetz announced that he is “currently working with… Republican colleagues on the Judiciary Committee to craft legislation to say that if you’re going to opine as to the truth or falsity of that which is put on your platform, for the sake of its viewers, you don’t get the protection of Section 230.” In that case, he believes they “are not a platform.” Instead, they “are… editorializing.”