Texas Gov. Abbott proposes legislation to ban social media censorship

Mar 6, 2021

While many complain about censorship, Gov. Greg Abbott is looking to take real action against big tech censorship in the state of Texas.

Abbott held a press conference Friday where he proposed new legislation to prohibit social media sites from censoring viewpoints.

Gov. Greg Abbott announces effort to ban social media censorship in Texas https://t.co/vzFbQQjjnb
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) March 6, 2021

As reported by the Blaze, Abbott held the conference with state senator Bryan Hughes to discuss a new bill, Senate Bill 12, which “will help prohibit social media companies from censoring Texans based on the viewpoints they express.”

I joined @SenBryanHughes to announce a bill that would prevent social media companies like Twitter & Facebook from censoring conservative speech & beliefs.

Silencing conservative views is un-American, it's un-Texan and it's about to be illegal in Texas.https://t.co/JsPam2XyqD
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) March 6, 2021

“Conservative speech will not be canceled in the state of Texas,” Abbott said Friday. “We see that the First Amendment is under assault by the social media companies, and that is not going to be tolerated in Texas.”

The governor called out social media platforms for seeking to censor conservative viewpoints.

#SB12 will allow Texans to participate on the virtual public square free from Silicon Valley censorship.
Thank you Gov. @GregAbbott_TX for coming to #EastTexas and thank you for your support. #FreeSpeech #txlege https://t.co/xY998zjBuA
— Senator Bryan Hughes (@SenBryanHughes) March 6, 2021

“Senator Hughes’ bill, Senate Bill 12, protects Texans from being wrongfully censored on social media, making sure that their voices are going to be heard and not canceled or silenced,” he said.

Sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have now become a “modern-day public square,” he said yet they are controlling what people here and who gets a voice.

Read the Senate bill here.