Dear Jack,
I just drove six hours from Palm Beach, Florida to the Florida State Capitol in Tallahassee where I’ll be presenting comments to the Appropriations Committee of the Florida Legislature at 3:45pm EST on Governor Ron DeSantis’s Big-Tech censorship bill HB 7013, titled “Technology Transparency”. NOTE: the link to watch the hearing is at the end of this email.
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It was important for me to be here today to voice my grave concerns outlined below about the growing threat of Big-Tech censorship and Big-Tech election interference, because this is a pressing issue that is affecting millions of Americans, and many Floridians, including myself and President Donald Trump, who is now a resident and voter in Florida’s 21st District where I am running for Congress.
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Many of you are aware that my candidacy for US Congress in 2020 was the first de-platformed campaign in US history. We faced immense and unprecedented hurdles to bypass bans on all social media platforms and numerous telecommunication networks to communicate our message directly to the voters during COVID-19, but we paved the way for future de-platformed and censored candidates, one of whom may very well be President Donald Trump, if he decides to run for President again in 2024. This was only possible with the support of people like you and my other loyal supporters, fans, and donors who helped create the playbook.
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HELP me fight back against Big-Tech censorship and election interference today by donating to my campaign so I can get to Congress and take down the Big-Tech tyrants!
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Recently, the Wall Street Journal published an article about how the battles to protect the country against Big-Tech are taking place in State Capitals. On Fox News during Tucker Carlson’s show, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis touted his proposed legislation that Florida lawmakers are currently crafting to combat Big-Tech censorship and Big-Tech election interference. If the bill in Florida passes, other states are considering using it as flagship legislation to model their own Big-Tech laws, so this legislation must be effective.
I’m appearing today at the Florida State Capitol to fight for changes to the current bill. Ensuring that Florida adopts reasonable and comprehensive regulations to prevent social media platforms from silencing the voices of candidates running for office is important.
The first draft of the bill is welcomed, BUT I have identified numerous issues with the bill that require more fine tuning to eliminate loopholes which Big-Tech will continue to exploit to censor Americans, silence candidates, discriminate against conservatives, and interfere in our elections.
Currently, the bill wouldn’t provide protection for my campaign from Big-Tech censorship, and it also wouldn’t protect President Trump if he were to run again in 2024.
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The issues in the proposed bill that I have identified and am fighting to fix include the following:
- Cover President Trump and Myself: Individuals who were previously de-platformed and banned are NOT covered in the bill should they run for a federal position in Florida as a Florida resident, including US Congress or President. This impacts people like myself, and President Trump. The bill MUST be changed.
- Protect Pro-Conservative Social Media Alternatives: Big Tech literally wiped out millions of conservative voices, and thousands of elected officials and candidates on a global scale etc. when Amazon Web Services (AWS) arbitrarily decided to shut down Parler, an alternative social media haven popular among conservatives. While the bill outlines some types of Big Tech components that are being leveraged against conservatives, it fails to include hosting services like Amazon, and this can happen again unless the bill is changed.
- Stop App Store Censorship: The bill also fails to address the censorship perpetuated by the Apple and Google App stores, which are notorious for de-platforming conservative apps like Parler and Gab.
- Stop Cable Censorship: The bill should also include protection for Floridians and Florida candidates from being censored by Internet companies, phone companies, and communication companies like Xfinity Comcast, which censored my campaign from sending text messages and emails in 2020 while they donated to my Democrat opponent, Lois Frankel.
- Stop Financial Transaction Censorship: The bill needs to include protection from de-banking to ensure that Floridians aren’t arbitrarily banned from services like PayPal, Venmo, Cash App, GoFundMe, payment processors, modes of transportation including Uber and Lyft, as well as food delivery services like Uber Eats, etc. all of which I have been banned from using because of my conservative political beliefs, both as an individual, and as a candidate for US Congress.
- Fines have no Clarity: Governor Ron DeSantis has stated that under this legislation, Big Tech companies will be fined $100,000 each day that they de-platform political candidates in Florida. However, the fine detail of the bill is that this penalty only applies to what the bill calls “statewide candidates” i.e. Governor, Senators. A minimal fine of only $10,000 would be applied for the censorship of what the bill labels as “other candidates”, without any specifics of whom that includes.
- Fines have no Teeth: This penalty is chump change in the eyes of Facebook, Twitter, and Google, and they wouldn't even take it seriously. That’s why I’m proposing the penalty needs to be substantially higher at a rate of $100 million a day, per candidate if they are de-platformed both prior to their campaign, during their campaign, or both. The whole point of punitive damages is to make sure the offense is NEVER repeated again. The laughable fines in the current bill are not severe enough and would not harm Big Tech.
- No Protection of Free Speech: The bill provides no blanket protection for all non-violent, constitutionally protected free speech.
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Big Tech Social Media companies are watching closely and they are constantly updating their malicious user policies to get away with as much political censorship of conservatives as possible. As a candidate, I VOW to not be silenced, and I vow to never sit back and allow for Big Tech to silence YOU.
I will continue exposing Big-Tech and hold State Legislatures accountable for passing good legislation that benefits ALL Americans and candidates.
Help me get to Congress in 2022 where I will continue to expose, and hold Big-Tech accountable, and protect your free speech, and the integrity of our elections!
Can I count on you to support my campaign today with a generous donation of $22?
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The public can watch the event live by clicking on the following link and selecting the Appropriations Committee meeting at 3:45 pm EST today, March 15, 2021.
https://thefloridachannel.org
Thank you so much for your support,
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