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Lord God, we pray for truth to win out.
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Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) will announce today that he is working with Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee to craft legislation that would strip social media giants of their Section 230 legal immunity if they fact check content on their platforms, according to a copy of his podcast which Breitbart News exclusively obtained.

On the Florida conservative’s podcast, Hot Takes with Matt Gaetz, he said that he is working on a bill that would prevent social media giants such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google from fact-checking content on their platforms. Gaetz’s announcement follows as Twitter decided to fact check President Donald Trump’s tweet on Tuesday.

Twitter tried to fact check the president over Trump’s tweet, claiming that mail-in ballot would lead to increased voter fraud.

After Twitter fact-checked Trump’s post, the president threatened to regulate or shut down social media companies such as Facebook and Twitter.

“Republicans feel that Social Media Platforms totally silence conservatives voices,” Trump wrote on Wednesday. “We will strongly regulate, or close them down, before we can ever allow this to happen.”

Gaetz noted that social media companies such as Twitter and Facebook enjoy a special liability protection under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. This immunity shields them from lawsuits if they were to remove and host content.

Gaetz said:

A lot of people don’t see that Facebook and Twitter … you see Twitter disadvantaging the president, they enjoy liability protections that are not enjoyed by your local newspaper or your local TV station, or Fox News, or CNN, or MSNBC. They have special benefits under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act as digital platforms because they’re not creating content for which they should be liable. They’re not making decisions about content, they’re simply saying come one, come all with your content. And as a consequence of that, they’re getting a bunch of protections.

The Communications Decency Act stipulates that a platform, such as Twitter, cannot be sued for what users post on their platform as long as they act as platforms and not publishers.

Noting that the social media companies have become increasingly biased against conservatives, Gaetz questioned whether social media companies deserve to keep their Section 230 immunity.

He asked rhetorically, “Well now, it really begs the question with what Twitter is doing. Do they deserve that? Do they deserve it? And I would suggest that they don’t.”

Gaetz added that it is not “good for the country” regardless of politics when these social media companies cease to stay neutral platforms.

Gaetz said that he is working with members of the Judiciary Committee to work on legislation to remove big tech’s Section 230 immunity if they continue to fact check on their platforms.

He said, “I am currently working with my Republican colleagues on the Judiciary Committee to craft legislation to say that if you’re going to opine as to the truth or falsity of that which is put on your platform, for the sake of its viewers, you don’t get the protection of Section 230. You are not a platform. You are doing something else, you are editorializing.”

Gaetz’s office told Breitbart News that the legislation would make big tech companies’ legal immunity contingent on not offering editorial judgments, such as fact-checking content.

“If Twitter is going to fact-check President Trump, that really begs the question of who those fact-checkers and if they are groups of people that shown bias against the president,” Gaetz said.

(Excerpt from Breitbart. Article by Sean Moran.)
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Cole
June 1, 2020

Lord we pray that this legislation will pass and help our leadership to apply laws that try to ensure non-bias and equality for the citizens of this nation. We know Lord that you alone are perfect in every way and we ask you to steer our hearts and minds toward you as we seek to improve the rule of law within our nation. We know that no law is perfect but we also know that laws help us from caving into anarchy. We know by evidence that many social media platforms are purposely deceiving many today. We know they are using the laws to avoid treating everyone fairly or equally. Give our lawmakers discernment, courage and knowledge on pursuing and addressing these problems.I know of former tech employees who have revealed the deceptive methods that many tech companies employ in order to restrict or delete information. We pray that you would give them the courage to come forth and help our leadership correct these problems. We ask that in Jesus name.

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Kurt Klemm
May 30, 2020

Father we know only You know the inner man and that we cannot legislate righteousness. But we know that You have given us the choice of voting into office our leaders. Guide them in bringing rules to bear in our society that expose and deter evil and promote truth and righteous behavior. Your flawless word says “The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He wishes”. Have your way in our leaders and in us.
Thank you Lord.
Amen and amen.

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