Republican Lawmakers Sponsor Bills That Would Prohibit Social Media Platforms From Censoring Tennesseans

Image Credit: Jason Howie / CC & capitol.tn.gov

The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –

Representative Monty Fritts (R-Kingston-District 32) and Senator Paul Bailey (R-Sparta-District 15) are sponsoring a pair of bills that would prohibit social media platforms from censoring Tennessee residents.

House Bill 1504 and Senate Bill 1299 also require these platforms to publicly disclose how they manage data and content, including how they moderate content and how their algorithms work with regard to searches and ranking.

At the beginning of January, Senator Bo Watson (R-Hixson-District 11) reintroduced legislation from 2022 that aims to stymie social media censorship of Tennessee elections while preserving first amendment rights of Tennesseans in today’s “online public square.”

Senate Bill 0111 (SB0111) designates social media platforms as “common carriers” requiring them to obtain certificates of public convenience and necessity from the Tennessee public utilities commission. The proposed legislation would fine platforms for shadow banning users based on their political ideology, viewpoint, or personal animus, or for discrimination based on race, creed, color, religion, sex, age, or national origin.

Representative Dennis Powers (R-Jacksboro-District 26) is sponsoring the legislation on the House side again this year. 

Powers, who is the main architect of the bill, believes social media is the town square of our time and that social media companies, just like phone companies or hotel chains, should not discriminate based upon political ideology.

“Conservatives have long been censored by Big Tech and now more evidence has become apparent when companies have admitted working in conjunction with government organizations to censor information that may hurt political candidates in elections,” said Powers. “This is a problem that Congress needs to solve because it has interstate commerce implications, but although they talk about revising Section 230, nothing has been done, so the states have to address the issue.”

The “Tennessee Information Protection Act” is also back up for reconsideration this year as House Bill 1181 sponsored by Representative Johnny Garrett (R-Goodlettsville-District 45) and in the Senate as Senate Bill 0073 also sponsored by Watson.

About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.

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