South Fulton Today

A Georgia House panel is deliberating the best way to promote free speech on social media sites, according to NPR News.

Rather than ignoring the issue or imposing extensive regulations on sites like Facebook and Twitter, Georgia Republicans are adopting a more nuanced approach that balances the First Amendment and the rights of private businesses, NPR reported. State Rep. Chuck Martin said social media companies should not censor specific viewpoints, but he also argued that the government shouldn’t overstep its bounds when regulating private entities.

“This is just something that one has to look and be very careful that there’s not an overstep and be very careful that we don’t express our subjectivity over the top of another set of subjectivity,” Martin said, according to NPR News. “Because by doing that, we’re not making it any better, and we could actually be making it worse.”

Lawmakers across the nation are calling for action to limit the power of social media giants, as citizens across the nation grow increasingly concerned about having their opinions censored.

According to a study by Pew Research Center, most Americans believe social media sites attempt to censor political viewpoints. The study found that 73% of Americans believe that it is very (37%) or somewhat (36%) likely that social media tech companies are intentionally censoring opinions they disagree with. Only 25% of Americans believe this is not likely. 90% of Republicans believe it likely that social media sites censor viewpoints.

In South Carolina, state Rep. Mike Burns (R-Greenville) has introduced new legislation to stop social media censorship. Dubbed the Stop Social Media Censorship Act, H. 3450 would ban social media companies from censoring the comments, posts or shares of an individual who is not calling for violence, posting obscene material, bullying minors or urging criminal conduct.

“Young people are supposed to be able to get exposed to both sides of the argument and they’re short-circuiting the process,” Burns told Conservative Firing Line. “We want everyone to be heard. Every single day or two we hear about someone’s point of view getting cut off.”

Another study by Pew Research Center shows that a majority of Americans (56%) believe that major technology companies should be more heavily regulated than they currently are, compared to 47% of Americans in 2020 and 51% in 2018. 68% believe that major technology companies have more power and influence than they should. 

The study also found that Americans who have heard more about debates regarding the regulation of tech companies are far more likely to support regulations against big tech than less informed individuals — 69% vs 42%.

The biggest jump in support for more regulation was among Liberal Democrats, which jumped from 52% to 70% since last year. 

Moderate or liberal Republicans were the only groups that showed no statistically significant increase in support for more regulations.