Clay Calvert, director of the Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project and Brechner Eminent Scholar in Mass Communication at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications, is featured in “Social Media Policing in Florida” on the “First News with Jimmy Cefalo” on iHeartRadio on May 25.

Calvert comments on Senate Bill 7072 signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on May 24 making Florida the first state to regulate how social media platforms moderate speech online. The new law would impose fines on platforms that permanently bar political candidates in Florida.

According to Calvert, the First Amendment is designed to protect us from censorship by government entities and officials, not from private entities. Social media companies are private entities.

“So, when private companies deplatform someone including President Trump on Twitter on Jan. 8, that really didn’t raise a First Amendment question of free speech. It raised a community censorship or censorship by a private entity issue,” said Calvert.

He adds, “Transparency provisions notifying users of policies or changes only applies to companies that have an excess of $100 million in revenue or 100 million monthly users. The public wants to know what is done with their data and they want to know what kind of posts get priority.”

“If all 50 states created rules to govern social medial in terms of use, service and deplatforming candidates for office, there would be a crazy patchwork of rules. Federal legislation would be much more effective. No matter where they are from, the companies would know the rules of the road. It would be much more effective from a business perspective,” he said.

“It will face a difficult challenge and will go under a strict scrutiny standard when a lawsuit is filed,” he said. “An injunction restraining it from going into effect will allow a judge to review the substantive merits of that cause of action.”

Clavert was also featured in “Florida’s New Big Tech Law Could Face Numerous Legal Challenges” on “PM Tampa Bay with Ryan Gorman” broadcast on May 25 on iHeartRadio.

“Florida Bill 7072 was designed to prevent social media companies from deplatfomring candidates for local or state office in Florida. Legislators felt that social media platforms have so much power today that the government needed to step in and regulate them more closely,” said Calvert.

Calvert commented on a last-minute provision added to the bill exempting theme park and entertainment complexes in the state. These companies do business in the state and Disney has media holdings. This provision could jeopardize the whole bill.

Posted: May 28, 2021
Category: College News, Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project News
Tagged as: Clay Calvert, Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project