House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy, unveiled plans over the weekend to hold Big Tech companies accountable for what he described as “conservative censorship” and anticompetitive practices, reported the New York Post.
In a letter to fellow Republicans on Sunday, McCarthy outlined plans that would curb existing legal protections for companies like Twitter if they censor content, while also making it easier for state attorneys general to bring antitrust actions against tech behemoths like Google and Amazon if they break the law.
“For the sake of preserving free speech and a free economy, it’s time Big Tech faces the music,” McCarthy wrote. “House Republicans are ready to lead.”
The GOP leader pointed to 2018, when conservative figures such as Rep. Devin Nunes (Republican – California) and Donald Trump Jr. were “shadow banned” on Twitter, while Google search results for “California Republicans” compared them to Nazis.
“Since then, the examples of conservative censorship and bias across internet platforms has proliferated,” the letter stated. “Each one of you are all too familiar with how Big Tech and its overwhelmingly liberal executives want to set the agenda and silence conservatives.”
Regarding accountability, McCarthy wrote in his letter that his group’s proposal would include Section 230 reform, referring to a provision of the Communications Decency Act, which provides a legal shield to tech companies for content on their websites.
Section 230, McCarthy wrote, “would be changed to limit liability protections for moderation of speech that is not protected by the First Amendment and would preclude Big Tech from discriminating against Americans based on their political affiliation.”
“We would also require regular reauthorization of Section 230 so Congress may update regulations of the constantly-evolving internet landscape.”
On transparency, McCarthy wrote that his bill will require social media platforms to list their content moderation or censorship practices, “with specificity, on a publicly available website.”
“[B]y requiring Big Tech to implement and maintain a reasonable user-friendly appeals process, our plan will empower conservatives and others whose speech rights have been infringed to challenge Big Tech’s attacks,” the letter added.
