Sunshine Sentinel

Sen. Danny Burgess has recently filed legislation that would require social media companies to provide notice to individual and business users of their web sites if their account is disabled or suspended.

The move to create Senate Bill 520 resulted from Facebook and Twitter’s decision to ban President Donald Trump for inciting violence, according to floridapolitics.com.

“I’m proud to sponsor this innovative and timely piece of legislation,” Sen. Burgess wrote on Twitter. “This originated from numerous constituents facing issues by these monopolized monster social media companies right in our own backyard. Our work on this issue has only just begun.”

He also stated that the bill will protect Floridians from “a dangerous precedent.”

“It seems to me that the government explicitly has granted Facebook, Twitter, and others immunity under federal law,” Burgess said in a news release. “As publishers of third-party content, they should not be allowed to discriminate based on content and ban individuals just because they do not agree with their viewpoint.”  

The legislation also requires social media sites to provide notice within a timeframe and an effective date. 

“If an individual or business user’s social media website account is disabled or suspended by the social media website, the owner or operator of the website must provide electronic notice to the user within 30 days after taking such action. The notice must be in writing and must explain why the user’s account was suspended or disabled,” the bill states.