COLUMBUS, OHIO— Republican lawmakers in Ohio continue their push to see House Bill 441 become law.
The bill, introduced last year, has garnered support amongst conservatives throughout the General Assembly.
H.B. 441, sponsored by Republican lawmakers Scott Wiggam, and Al Cutrona would prohibit censoring by social media platforms and allow Ohio residents to file lawsuits against those companies.
Wiggam says, “By preventing Big Tech companies from continuing to engage in viewpoint discrimination, we hope to protect the free exchange of ideas and information.”
A Conservative think tank, The Heritage Foundation, says, ” A handful of Big Tech corporations now manipulate the flow of information in such an expansive way as to fundamentally reshape the public discourse.”
Internet Lobbyist group NetChoice says the passage of H.B. 441 could have far-reaching implications.
Steve DelBianco of NetChoice said, “Even if H.B. 441 were to survive constitutional challenges, consider the unintended consequences of penalizing social media platforms for removing harmful content.”
“The removal of content related to extremism and child safety is impeded by H.B. 441. Today, online platforms make efforts to remove harmful content from their sites. In just six months. Facebook, Google, and Twitter took action on over 5 billion accounts and posts. This includes removal of 57 million instances of pornography, and 17 million pieces of content related to child safety.”
Legal experts say that if H.B. 441 would pass it would most likely be struck down by the courts.