Florida GOP Governor Ron DeSantis fired back at a reporter on Monday who questioned whether he signed a Big Tech anti-censorship bill because of his ties to former US President Donald Trump, reported Newsmax.
DeSantis retorted that it is hypocrisy that social media companies ban Trump while allowing Ayatollah Khamenei to continue to post anti-Semitic rants “about killing Jews.”
"But I do think there's another issue that has been brought to bear: When you de-platform the president of the United States but you let Ayatollah Khamenei talk about killing Jews, that is wrong," said DeSantis.
He was speaking to a crowd at the signing of a bill – SB 7072 – that aims to protect Floridians from Big Tech censorship.
“This session, we took action to ensure that ‘We the People’ — real Floridians across the Sunshine State — are guaranteed protection against the Silicon Valley elites,” DeSantis said in a statement.
“Many in our state have experienced censorship and other tyrannical behavior firsthand in Cuba and Venezuela. If Big Tech censors enforce rules inconsistently, to discriminate in favor of the dominant Silicon Valley ideology, they will now be held accountable.”
He added that “what we’ve been seeing across the U.S. is an effort to silence, intimidate, and wipe out dissenting voices by the leftist media and big corporations.”
Twitter had been harshly criticized for its unwillingness to censor Khamenei, who has posted anti-Semitic and inflammatory tweets such as calling Zionists “filthy” while condemning other countries for ties with Israel.
Twitter dismissed calls to censure Khamenei, stating that his tweets were mere “saber-rattling on military and economic issues” and not in violation of their policies.
Under SB 7072, Floridians will be able to win monetary damages if treated unfairly by Bit Tech platforms; the state’s attorney general can bring legal actions against Big Tech companies that violate the law or antitrust law; and Big Tech is prohibited from de-platforming any candidate for office in Florida.