Today, NetChoice voiced its opposition to the presumed passage by the Texas legislature of HB 20–an anti-bias bill that follows in the steps of Florida’s latest law designed to target and hurt America’s leading businesses.
“While this bill claims to be supporting free speech, it really violates the First Amendment and ties online business down with red tape that forces all kinds of websites to host the worst content the internet has to offer, such as obscene, antisemitic, and hateful posts,” said Carl Szabo, Vice President and General Counsel at NetChoice.
“This bill would harm small businesses who don’t want their quality goods or services associated with disinformation or racism when they’re trying to reach new customers across the country,” continued Szabo. “By ignoring the First Amendment, the Texas Legislature has chosen to abandon its own conservative and constitutional values in order to put the government in control of speech online.”