We’ve seen the signs.
“No shirt. No shoes. No service” and “We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.”
These are tenets of American business ownership, at least in the bricks-and-mortar world. If a company isn’t discriminating against someone’s civil liberties, owners have the right to determine who they serve. It’s a freedom that shouldn’t be infringed upon, especially in Texas, where Gov. Greg Abbott constantly talks about the sanctity of individual and corporate rights.
More accurately, Abbott and the Texas Legislature pick and choose which individual rights they protect as they pander to their base. Let us count the ways.
Freedom to carry guns without a permit or training? Sure.
Freedom to not wear a mask in the midst of a pandemic? Of course.
Freedom to not get a COVID vaccine? Definitely.
Freedom to vote? Nah.
Freedom for a woman to make decisions about her own body? Not so much.
Freedom for a company to flag and block false information online? Absolutely not.
In line with Texas’ spate of kowtowing to the extreme right, Abbott signed House Bill 20 on Sept. 9. The bill purports to protect free speech on social media, but it’s really meant to protect conservative free speech. In a press release, Abbott states “there is a dangerous movement by social media companies to silence conservative viewpoints and ideas.”
The bill aims to counter what Abbott and legislators deem online censorship. From the same release: “House Bill 20 prevents social media companies with more than 50 million monthly users banning users simply based on their political viewpoints.”
This is an offshoot of the Big Lie of massive voter fraud in the 2020 election. Just as there’s no evidence of widespread voter fraud — Yes, President Joe Biden won, just as Republicans won across the board in Texas — there’s no evidence of social media companies booting people for simply communicating their “political viewpoints.”
Social media companies act against content that violates their terms of use. Twitter’s policies, for example, forbid violence, threats, terrorism, violent extremism, child sexual exploitation, abuse, harassment, hateful conduct, promoting suicide, adult content or illegal activities. People must acknowledge the terms of use before using the platforms.
Abbott calls it a free speech issue, but that’s a misnomer — not all speech is protected.
“Social media websites have become our modern-day public square,” he said. “They are a place for healthy public debate where information should be able to flow freely.”
Let’s run with that. Nobody is arguing that free speech and public debate should be infringed upon, but can you threaten, terrorize, exploit, abuse or harass people in a public square? Can you scream fire in a movie theater or talk about a bomb in the airport security line? If someone made racist comments in a restaurant or coffee shop, does that business have a right to ask that person to leave? Are private companies public squares?
The former president wasn’t banned from Twitter for expressing free speech. The company banned him because his speech incited violence.
It’s not like speech has been canceled. After all, conservative politicians, pundits and personalities led an exodus from social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to places such as Parler, Gab, Rumble, Signal and Telegram in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The move was a reaction to traditional social media outlets banning and suspending accounts.
We all saw how campaigns and foreign actors manipulated social media in the 2016 election. In the years that followed, social media companies have become more savvy (but not savvy enough).
Our concern about social media isn’t about limits to free speech. It’s about users manipulating these platforms to push disinformation. Apparently, Texas lawmakers are for that.
San Antonio Express-News
