March 21, Jared Schroeder, associate professor of Journalism specializing in Free Press/Free Speech at SMU Dallas, for a piece critical of the proposed Texas Senate Bill 12, an effort he argues is unconstitutional and a lawsuit lighting rod. Published in the Dallas Morning News: http://bit.ly/3saL0Bt
Texas lawmakers’ plan for stopping social media firms from blocking or banning certain ideas or speakers has just one itty, bitty problem — it’s flagrantly unconstitutional.
Senate Bill 12, which Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, filed earlier this month, would empower the state to legally compel social media firms to leave up, or republish, content they would take down — and reinstate speakers they would remove from their spaces.
Gov. Greg Abbott threw his support behind the bill earlier this month. He described social media spaces as “modern-day public squares” and congratulated Hughes for “taking a stand against Big Tech’s political censorship and protecting Texans’ right to freedom of expression.”
