Florida Man Legislates Social Media Speech
TechFreedom responds. Plus, debates on Section 230, a letter to the FTC, and more.
Wait… no Mexican food in this week’s subject line? I know this change is alarming, and I’m sure you’re waiting on bated breath to hear what’s going on. Here’s the deal: It’s no longer Dan writing the TechFreedom newsletter, but our new Director of Digital Media, Rachel Altman. (That’s me!)
When I’m not on digital media duty, I’m walking my catahoula puppy, baking something chocolate-y, or finding my next niche, questionable travel destination. For more about me, you can find my bio on the TechFreedom website. And if you really want to know more about me, follow me on Twitter at @millionthrachel.
Oh, and for the sake of continuity, here’s one more food recommendation to hold you over: If you’re in the DC area like me, try the birria tacos from J&J Mexican Taquería. I ate way too much birria de chivo on a trip to Guadalajara last fall, and trust me -- these tacos are the real deal.
Content Moderation. As devotees of this newsletter know, we’ve had a lot—seriously, a lot—to say about Florida’s social media speech bill. Well, Governor Ron DeSantis finally signed the bill into law this week—and we were at the forefront of the media coverage. We issued a statement. Berin, Ari, and Corbin were all quoted in Ars Technica. Corbin and Berin’s seminal Lawfare article on the bill was discussed in David French’s French Press newsletter, Forbes.com, JURIST, and elsewhere. And Ari called in to the Ross Kaminsky Show on KHOW Denver to tell listeners just how unconstitutional Florida’s newest law is.
Corbin was especially busy discussing the law. He appeared on local Florida television (WINK). He gave interviews to, and was quoted by, The Washington Examiner and The Boston Globe. He was quoted in ABC News, Axios, The Guardian, Barron’s, The Chicago Tribune, The Orlando Sentinel, The Sarasota Herald-Tribune, local Florida media (e.g., ABC7, WWSB; ABC25, WPBF), Law.com, and Law360 (paywall). And internationally, he made his way to France (e.g., Notre Temps; France 24), Germany (DW), Switzerland (Tribune de Genève), Canada (La Presse and la Voix de l’Est—the Quebecois seem to like him for some reason), Belgium (Het Nieuwsblad; De Standaard), the Netherlands (Reformatorisch Dagblad; NU.nl), and Brazil (Focus.Jor). If you put the Brazilian article through Google Translate, Corbin comes out as saying that the law “runs over the First Amendment with a train.” Just so.
Texas nearly enacted its own social media law this week, which would have given courts the power to order social media platforms to reinstate users and content. Ari explained on Twitter why the Texas bill is unconstitutional and preempted by Section 230. Then he took his show on the road, appearing on ABC 7 Amarillo to explain why the bill should really chap Texans’ hides. He was also quoted on the bill by Hot Air and in a news segment that played across all Texas iHeartRadio stations. Fortunately, the Texas House of Representatives ran out the legislative clock, but the governor may yet revive the bill at a special session later this year.
Section 230. Berin defended Section 230 in an Oxford-style debate hosted by Broadband Breakfast. He and Internet lawyer Cathy Gellis, arguing against Neil Fried and Scott Cleland, shifted opinion dramatically against the proposition that “Section 230 is harmful and should be abolished or significantly changed.”
Antitrust & Social Media. Increasingly, Republicans insist that social media’s supposed political bias against them is somehow an antitrust problem. It isn’t, as Berin explains in his new essay, “Antitrust, Section 230 & the First Amendment,” published by Competition Policy International Chronicle. The article is currently paywalled for CPI subscribers, but we’ll post the full article in two weeks.
FTC. This week we sent a letter to the Senate Commerce Committee’s chair and ranking member, in which we explained the importance of notice. It’s a simple concept: the government should tell people what conduct to avoid. If it fails to do so, it shouldn’t be able to take their money! Why’d we write about this? Because Congress is considering how to “fix” Section 13(b) of the FTC Act, in response to the Supreme Court’s 9-0 ruling earlier this year in AMG Capital Management LLC v. FTC. (We filed a brief in support of the side that got the nine votes.) The Court ruled, correctly, that the FTC may not use Section 13(b) to obtain money. In our letter, we explain that adequate notice protection must accompany any monetary remedies Congress now adds to Section 13(b). What would such protection look like? We argue that a “dishonest-or-fraudulent” standard will do what the FTC says it needs to do: get money back from scammers and fraudsters.
Florida Tech Scene. On a new episode of the Tech Policy Podcast, Corbin spoke with Matt Haggman, an executive at the Miami-Dade Beacon Council, about the burgeoning Miami tech scene. Corbin and Matt discussed the culture, attitudes, and policies that are driving tech talent to Miami, as well as the obstacles, such as inequality, political headwinds in Tallahassee, and rising seas, that could derail the city’s tech renaissance.
Space Law. If you ever wondered how our General Counsel Jim Dunstan became an Internet meme, he tells the story on the inaugural episode of The Space Bar Show.