Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said on Sunday that he was working on a bill with legislators in his state to prevent big tech companies taking action to moderate user content based on their political viewpoint.
Florida will also require companies who promote a candidate to record such endorsements as a political campaign contribution at the state's election commission.
Several states are taking steps to protect the free flow of speech and prevent Silicon Valley companies from using their monopoly to police speech that they do not agree with. These companies have repeatedly been scrutinized for their perceived political bias and alleged unbalanced moderation of users' content. Critics say much of the companies' moderation in the past year has focused on conservative speech and speech from individuals deemed supporters of former President Donald Trump.
Hughes, a Republican, told Inside Texas Politics that the bill he and Abbott intend to introduce will address any unbalanced moderation of user accounts by social media companies like Twitter and Facebook.
Google, Facebook, and Twitter did not immediately respond to The Epoch Times' request for comment.
On the same day, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also confirmed that his state will take further steps to address big tech censorship, adding that the state has already started by filing an anti-trust lawsuit against Google in December.
"So yes, I think you're going to see more from my state in the coming months and coming years because if we don't do something now, it's maybe too late and these companies will have such dominance and so much money," he added.
Trump and his Justice Department have repeatedly urged Congress to roll back liability protections under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act for companies that have engaged in censoring or political conduct. They have accused the companies of acting as publishers rather than online platforms when they engage in targeted moderation of user content. Protections under section 230 is not intended to be used to protect publishers.
Meanwhile, the push to remove Section 230 protections have received push back from technology groups.