HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 4066 FILED ON: 2/19/2021
HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 3830
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The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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PRESENTED BY:
David F. DeCoste
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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:
The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:
An Act preventing the de-platforming of political candidates.
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PETITION OF:
Name: | District/Address: | Date Added: |
David F. DeCoste | 5th Plymouth | 2/19/2021 |
Steven G. Xiarhos | 5th Barnstable | 2/26/2021 |
Marcos A. Devers | 16th Essex | 3/30/2021 |
HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 4066 FILED ON: 2/19/2021
HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 3830
By Mr. DeCoste of Norwell, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 3830) of David F. DeCoste, Steven G. Xiarhos and Marcos A. Devers relative to prohibiting social media platforms from removing political candidates for public office in response to political statements made by candidates. Advanced Information Technology, the Internet and Cybersecurity. |
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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In the One Hundred and Ninety-Second General Court
(2021-2022)
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An Act preventing the de-platforming of political candidates.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
Chapter 93A of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 2 the following section:-
Section 2A. (a) For the purposes of this section, the following words shall, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, have the following meanings:
“Deplatform”, the action or practice of preventing a person from contributing to a political forum or debate, including, but not limited to, by blocking them from contributing on a particular social media platform.
“Social media platform” or “platform”, a website or application that enables a user to create and share content or participate in social networking.
(b) No social media platform shall deplatform a political candidate for public office in response to a political statement made by the candidate.
(c) In addition to all damages allowed by this chapter, a social media platform that violates this section may be fined not more than $100,000 per violation. For the purposes of this section, each day during which a candidate is deplatformed shall be considered a separate violation.