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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has walked a difficult road to combat Big Tech bias. Since the beginning of his administration, he has demonstrated the power of big tech and how it generates a narrative to attack and censor conservatives.
In advancing that fight, this Monday he took a momentous step. He signed SB 7072, which aims to shield Florida citizens, politicians and the state’s press from Big Tech censorship.
The Republican governor argued that it is a measure to prevent Big Tech from advancing behavior he described as similar to those used in regimes such as Cuba and Venezuela.
“Many in our state have experienced censorship and other tyrannical behavior firsthand in Cuba and Venezuela. If Big Tech censors enforce rules inconsistently, to discriminate in favor of the dominant Silicon Valley ideology, they will now be held accountable,” DeSantis said during a press conference.
The legislation would specifically allow Floridians who are excluded from the platforms to sue for damages and impose fines on the tech companies.
But this is not the first time DeSantis has addressed the unchecked power of Big Tech. The governor has reiterated on several occasions that what is happening is something “Orwellian” and has assured that many media outlets claim to defend freedom of speech, but in reality “they are cheerleaders for censorship.”
And not only has he made denunciations, but he has also confronted the measures that digital platforms impose on conservative voices. For example, in April, YouTube censored the governor and a group of experts who questioned the use of mouth covers on children.
DeSantis and the experts generated the debate on the use of masks in children because, according to a guide published by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in May indicated that compared to adults, fewer children were infected by the disease during the pandemic.
Silicon Valley’s lies
Moreover, it is not only censorship on the part of Big Tech. Recently, the CBS program 60 Minutes edited some statements made by DeSantis to discredit him in relation to his management of the distribution of the vaccine, in alliance with Publix.
This fact generated the reaction of several conservative journalists, who warned that the position of the CBS network to defend the editing of the interview makes things worse. Matt Whitlock, a Republican communicator, indicated that the videos of the DeSantis interview show how the material was edited.
“Everyone has access to the video and can see exactly how they deceptively edited the interview to fit a pre-set narrative, truth be damned,” Whitlock wrote on Twitter.
Faced with the situation, DeSantis, in addition to denouncing the manipulation of the material, explained that major media outlets do this type of practice with impunity. Likewise, he said that CBS is characterized for lying about its political opponents. He maintained that the interview was edited with the intention of deceiving citizens.
Despite the Republican governor’s efforts to dismantle the entire system of censorship and attack on conservatives from Big Tech, this Tuesday DeSantis acknowledges that it is a great power and it will take a great effort to stop the great power they are wielding.
“It will absolutely be challenged, so we know that. I mean, obviously, we know that they are too powerful of an industry, you know, they don’t want any accountability so they’re going to do whatever they can” he stated on Tuesday in an interview with The Spectator.
However, both DeSantis and his team are committed to continue moving forward and facing this path to dismantle the lies and narratives of Big Tech against anyone who does not share their ideas or push their theories. The governor’s new press secretary, Christina Pushaw, told The American.
Pushaw is confident that her job, in addition to showcasing the DeSantis administration’s accomplishments in the state, will also be aimed at dismantling what she described as false narratives. “So that’s a goal for me too – to push back against false and distorted narratives, which are all too common these days, in the media’s coverage of Gov DeSantis. With our great team at the governor’s office, I want to make sure everyone gets the facts, not only the narratives.”
Williams Perdomo es periodista y escritor, especializado en las fuentes Política y Cultura.