Pennsylvania Bill Aims to End Social Media’s ‘Control’ Over You: ‘Unfair Censorship’

FILE – Social media apps are displayed on an iPhone, March 13, 2019, in New York. An independent Russian news site reported that a Russian court convicted the spokesman for U.S. tech company Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, of advocating terrorism and sentenced him to six years in prison in absentia. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WTAJ) — The Pennsylvania House of Representatives will introduce new legislation to combat “unfair censorship” when it comes to your social media.

The legislation, created by Rep. Marla Brown (R-Lawrence County), highlighted two areas of concern regarding censorship and social media platforms.

First, the legislation seeks to prohibit social media platforms from “unfairly censoring” users and journalistic endeavors. Second, it seeks to restrict the state of Pennsylvania’s ability to “control or compel” social media platforms to censor user comments.

While social media platforms have attempted to combat hateful or abusive posts online, the legislation argues that these “control” measures have been heavily criticized. Many argue that the “censorship” attempts are inconsistent, ineffective, politically motivated or inappropriate, according to the legislation.

Brown also argued that determining what constitutes speech as “harmful” or “unacceptable” is subjective and creates a “chilling” effect, which can in turn make individuals “fearful” of expressing themselves freely.

“It is all too common for individuals to falsely or misleadingly accuse others of spreading ‘hate speech’ simply because they express a difference of opinion. Unfortunately, this tactic often proves effective in stifling opposition and silencing dissenting voices,” Brown wrote in his memorandum.

In January 2021, former President Donald Trump was banned from Twitter due to what the platform described as repeated behavior that violated the company’s rules. In a statement released by the company, Twitter said that after a review of Trump’s content and how it was received and interpreted, they decided to permanently suspend his account.

“We made it clear years ago that these accounts are not entirely above our rules and cannot use Twitter to incite violence, among other things. We will continue to be transparent about our policies and their enforcement,” the statement said.

The ban was issued before social media company Twitter was bought by Elon Musk and renamed “X.”

In October 2020, Twitter and Facebook both took “highly controversial” steps, according to Brown, to allegedly limit the sharing of news articles relating to emails written and received by Hunter Biden.

“The deliberate suppression of this important and significant story was seen by many as an apparent attempt to shield Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden from reports that could harm his campaign,” Brown wrote. “Subsequent media reports have further reinforced suspicions that government officials exerted inappropriate influence on these companies to limit the story’s dissemination.”

In the absence of clear legal limits, Brown added that government entities and social media platforms could seek to “exploit their authority” to silence dissent, control speech and suppress political opposition under the “pretext” of “maintaining order.”