Bill would let Texas sue social media firms

The Texas Senate last week approved a bill that would allow the state attorney general to sue social media platforms over charges of blocking users or erasing posts because of their content, the Austin American-Statesman reported. 

Senate Bill 2373 was inspired by claims from conservatives and conservative groups of discriminatory treatment, according to Sen. Bryan Hughes, the Republican author of the bill, the paper reported.

The proposed legislation would apply to social media firms that say they’re impartial.

“If you hold yourself out as being an open forum and that you don’t discriminate based on viewpoint, then you have to keep your word,” Hughes said.

The Senate voted 18-12 to send SB 2373 to the Texas House of Representatives.

According to the bill, a social media firm could not be penalized for restricting content it “reasonably considers to be obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable,” the paper reported.

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