My legislation would protect free expression by
treating Big Tech companies as common carriers.
For too
long Americans have watched Big Tech trample on the principles of the First
Amendment—free speech, freedom of thought and belief, free assembly and the
open exchange of ideas. As more information is filtered through online
platforms, the First Amendment is becoming a dead letter. That’s why I’m taking
action to hold these corporations accountable.
Today, I’m introducing the 21st Century Foundation for the Right
to Express and Engage in Speech Act (or the 21st Century FREE Speech Act),
which would restore the Bill of Rights—rather than the whims of big
companies—as the guide for what Americans can say or hear in today’s public
square.
The modern public square is dominated
by ubiquitous platforms facing little meaningful competition. Instead of being
accountable to consumers or voters, the companies that dominate communication
today use opaque, inconsistent practices to control the information Americans
get to see and discuss. As Justice Clarence Thomas noted in a recent Supreme
Court opinion, common carriers—such as trains or phone networks, which are
essential to everyday goings-on, connecting people and information—have
historically been subject “to special regulations, including a general
requirement to serve all comers” without discrimination. The same logic should
apply today to Big Tech.
Unfortunately, our laws haven't kept
pace with this technological reality. The statutes governing free speech and
the free exchange of ideas online haven't been updated in a quarter-century.
Since it was passed in 1996, Section 230 has been stretched from its original
intent—the promotion of the free exchange of ideas online—into a license for
companies like Facebook and Twitter to
censor.