Arizona State Rep Drafts Legislation to Fine Big Tech After ‘Stop the Steal’ Censorship

Jack Dorsey testifies to Congress
pool/AFP/Getty
Allum Bokhari

Twitter censored a number of accounts ahead of the January 6 “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington, D.C., including Arizona State Rep Mark Finchem (R), who is now drafting legislation to fine big tech companies that engage in censorship.

According to draft legislation provided to the National File, Fincham’s bill would issue online services with fines if they are engaged in “editing, deleting, delisting, blocking, censoring, or making it difficult or impossible for online users to locate and access uploaded content in a timely manner.”

An exception is made for the deletion of pornographic or libelous content, or content that promotes violence.

Online services found to be in violation of Finchem’s proposed bill would have to pay the attorney general of Arizona an annual fine based on every online user in the state.

Finchem announced the bill this week after he was locked out of his Twitter account for encouraging Arizonans to call the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and urge them to implement an audit of the 2020 presidential vote.

After deleting his tweet, Finchem was allowed to re-access his Twitter account.

The Arizona Republican Party continues to encourage residents of the state to contact the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.

“Out of twitter jail,” said Finchem, “Had to delete a tweet that did nothing more than repost public information. Can’t wait to introduce legislat[ion] that fines Twitter for this clear violation of Sec. 230 USC. On to stopping the steal.”

In the same week, Twitter also locked the accounts of two “Stop the Steal” activists, Ali Alexander and Michael Coudrey, days before a major rally is set to take place in Washington D.C.

The rally is being promoted by President Trump on Twitter.

“The BIG Protest Rally in Washington, D.C., will take place at 11.00 A.M. on January 6th,” said the President on Twitter. “Locational details to follow. StopTheSteal!”

Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. His new book, #DELETED: Big Tech’s Battle to Erase the Trump Movement and Steal The Election, based on interviews with Big Tech insiders, exposes how Silicon Valley companies used their vast control over online information to meddle in the 2020 presidential election.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.