Bill > H3102

Introduced Session

A bill TO AMEND The south carolina code of laws BY ADDING ARTICLE 6 TO CHAPTER 5, TITLE 39 SO AS TO STOP CERTAIN SOCIAL MEDIA CENSORSHIP, TO PROVIDE PENALTIES, AND TO PROVIDE EXCEPTIONS. Whereas, the Communications Decency Act was created to protect decent speech, not deceptive trade practices; and Whereas, repealing Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act at the federal level is unnecessary because it already includes a state law exemption and the Stop Social Media Censorship Act was crafted to fall squarely in the state law exemption of Section 230 to cure abuses of Section 230 to protect the consumers of this State; and Whereas, contract law is a state law issue, and when a citizen of this State signs up to use certain social media websites, they are entering into a contract; and Whereas, the General Assembly is generally opposed to online censorship unless the content is injurious to children or promotes human trafficking; only then is the State for limited censorship; and Whereas, this State has a compelling interest in holding certain social media websites to higher standards for having substantially created a digital public square through fraud, false advertising, and deceptive trade practices; and Whereas, major social media websites have engaged in the greatest bait and switch of all time by marketing themselves as free, fair, and open to all ideas to induce subscribers only to then prove otherwise at great expense to consumers and election integrity; and Whereas, breach of contract, false advertising, bad faith, unfair dealing, fraudulent inducement, and deceptive trade practices are not protected forms of speech for purpose of the first amendment of the United States Constitution or the Constitution of this State; and Whereas, the major social media websites have already reached critical mass, and they did so through fraud, false advertising, and deceptive trade practices at great expense to the health, safety, and welfare of consumers of this State, while making it difficult for others to compete with them; and Whereas, this State has an interest in helping its citizens enjoy their free exercise rights in certain semipublic forums commonly used for religious and political speech, regardless of which political party or religious organization they ascribe to; and Whereas, the State has an interest in deterring the owners and operators of social media websites that have substantially created a digital public square from maliciously interfering in elections; and Whereas, this act is not intended to apply to a website that merely deletes comments posted by members of the general public in response to material published by the owner of the website. Now, therefore,

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Mike Burns (R)*,  Thomas Beach (R),  Bill Chumley (R),  John McCravy (R), 

Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Beach (on 02/02/2023)

Official Document