LINCOLN- Sen. Curt Friesen off Henderson is attempting to do what President Trump could not-- make social media platforms pay for disabling, suspending or censoring accounts. LB621, the Social Media Fairness Act would hold the platforms accountable to the same standards as governments. In the bill, each violation would carry a $100,000 fine.

Friesen says he introduced the bill because of his worry about the power few corporate executives have to decide what people are allowed to say on their app.

“They arbitrarily decide what’s fit for their platform or not,” he said. “I don’t think they’ve applied it fairly across the board.”

John Bender, a journalism professor at the University of Nebraska--Lincoln says he is doubtful this could actually become law and would be struck down by state and federal courts if it did. He also says that what Friesen is trying to hold privately owned social media companies to the same standard as the government. This would violate the private companies First Amendment rights.

This conversation really became a hot button issue after President Trump had his Twitter and Facebook accounts disabled on January 7th for inciting the riot that happened on January 6th at the U.S. Capitol. Bender goes on to say that it is hard to determine when speech should no longer be protected by the First Amendment. Speech that incites illegal acts is already not protected.

LB621 will be heard in front of the Judiciary Committee

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