TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida lawmaker is preparing legislation that would force state and local governments to boycott Twitter, Facebook, Apple, Android and Amazon as a reaction to President Donald Trump being banned from social media.
Republican Rep. Randy Fine made his plans known in a letter to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and the independently elected Cabinet in which he also asked them to divest any state investments in the companies.
“This is dangerous. And when half the country can’t speak with their words, they’re going to end up speaking in other ways,” Fine said.
The Republican Florida House member wants the state to stop doing business with and sell all stock in certain big tech companies.
He sent a letter to the governor and Cabinet asking for the “immediate divestment of any Florida-held equity and debt of the following companies: Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Apple and Alphabet… Google’s parent company.”
Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis said via Twitter that it is something “we should consider getting this on the next Cabinet agenda.”
In addition, Republican Sen. Danny Burgess has filed a bill that would require social media companies to give notice to account holders within 30 days of the deactivation or suspension of an account explaining why the action was taken.
