Weeks after former President Donald Trump was de-platformed by social media companies who accused him of inciting the January 6th Capitol riot and deemed anything that he could say in the future as dangerous and inciteful, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the Republican state legislature worked together on legislation to prevent Big Tech from censoring and de-platforming any future candidates for elected office, including President Trump, if he were to run for office again.
Gov. DeSantis Big Tech bill had a lot of promise, but over the past couple of months, legislators failed or refused to insert several amendments to both the House and Senate bills that would have strengthened the measures.
Now, during a recent Senate Committee on Appropriations hearing, Sen. Ray Rodrigues (R), a proponent of the Senate Big Tech bill, made the case that Big Tech companies were effective “monopolies” that “de-platform candidates who they do not like.”
While Sen. Rodrigues was grilled by both Republican and Democratic lawmakers as to the basis of the bill, and then asked if the bill was in direct “reaction to former President Donald trump being de-platformed on these social media sites,” Rodrigues said that he filed the bill out of concern for “Florida citizens” that could fall prey to censoring and/or de-platforming.
Republican Senator Ray Rodrigues forgets Laura Loomer and President Donald Trump are Floridians that were de-platformed. #Flpol pic.twitter.com/6lDLYv9qEx
— The Floridian (@Floridianpress) April 20, 2021
“That is not why I have filed the bill. I’m concerned about our Florida citizens, and if you’ll notice we only apply to Florida candidates, so it would not have affected him as the president,” said Rodrigues.
But Rodrigues appears to wrong.
President Trump is a Florida citizen and was registered to vote in Florida long before he was de-platformed, so the measure may not have applied to him because he was de-platformed after the 2020 presidential election, but if Trump were to run again, wouldn’t it then apply to him?
Senator Jason Pizzo (D) then asked Rodrigues if he knew of anyone in Florida that has been affected by de-platforming.
Pizzo: You don’t have a single name of a single person right now readily available that suffered from this at all?
Rodrigues: I did not bring that.
Pizzo: Do you have any?
Rodrigues: I can get some for you.
The Floridian has learned that Rodrigues, along with every single member of the committee received the written testimony from Conservative journalist and congressional candidate Laura Loomer about her de-platforming by Big Tech social media companies. Loomer also faces a lifetime ban from Big Tech companies like Facebook and Twitter.
Also, Pizzo’s question could have been easily answered by referencing President Trump, who has said that he is considering a run for president in 2024. Big Tech companies have already stated that their ban of Trump would be permanent, regardless of whether he runs for elected office again.
