Government

Ron DeSantis Signs New Social Media Law Designed To... Cost The State Tons Of Money

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There really should be some sort of independent ombudsperson role in state governments that tell officials like Ron DeSantis that he can’t waste taxpayer money on stupid symbolic legislation.

Yesterday, the performance artist doing business as the governor of Florida signed the Stop Social Media Censorship Act into law, leveling fines upwards of $250K per day on social media platforms that shut down the accounts of candidates for political office or “censor, deplatform, or shadow ban” any “journalistic enterprise,” a term defined to include entities that “Publish[] in excess of 100,000 words available online with at least 50,000 paid subscribers or 100,000 monthly active users” which is a bar that this website catering to attorneys and law students clears in less than a week to give you a sense of how tiny a niche publication would have to be to get protected by this law.

Is there anything constitutional about this law? Nope! But since conservatives have achieved stunning success in convincing people that Twitter bans are a First Amendment issue — they are not — it was only a matter of time until a state passed legislation like this to capitalize on the Free Speech fantasy they’ve spun for months.

Because while private entities like Twitter and Facebook banning users is entirely constitutional, forcing those private actors to broadcast particular users over their platforms is absolutely not constitutional. And yet here we are in up-is-now-down-land.

“This is so obviously unconstitutional, you wouldn’t even put it on an exam,” University of Miami law professor A. Michael Froomkin told Wired. That’s a bit harsh. Every exam needs one question so straightforward that the professor can autofail anyone who gets it wrong. That’s how you thin the pile!

There’s nothing serious about this law. It just feeds an appetite for anti-social media action conjured up by the politicians themselves. But unlike symbolic laws like State Tim Tebow Appreciation Day — every day in Florida for some reason — this is a law that’s only going to end up draining Florida’s coffers as its lawyers get routinely slapped around in court. Theoretically state prosecutors will attempt to enforce this law, or at least join the inevitable appeal of a private action under the law — and just throw more good money after bad on this. Because even government lawyer time is valuable — they may be sunk costs, but every minute pursuing a lost cause is a minute not going after something useful.

To be sure, the law will also cost tech companies money fighting back, which may be all Florida wants out of this blood pact, but it’s a curious brand of fiscal conservatism to commit to tossing taxpayer funds at a lost cause simply to bleed private enterprise.

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But, hey, I used to think that state governments should be stopped for financial reasons from wasting state resources on facially unconstitutional abortion laws and now the Supreme Court’s going to overturn Roe next summer so maybe we’ll have compelled speech for tech companies by 2023.

And that will really mess up those future exam questions.

HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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