A federal court temporarily blocked Florida's "deplatforming" law for social media that was due to take effect on Thursday. According to The New York Times and AP, Robert Hinkle, a US District Judge granted a temporary injunction to prevent "the parts of this legislation that are preempted or violates the First Amendment" being enforced. If they ban or remove a state-run political candidate's account, the law gives the state the power to fine social media companies such as Facebook up to $250,000 per day. For banning a local candidate for office, they could be fined as high as $25,000 per day.The law was proposed by Ron DeSantis, Florida governor. It was shortly after former President Donald Trump was banned on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Republican politicians have accused major social media platforms of being anti-conservative. DeSantis signed the bill into law in May after it passed Florida's legislative chamber and senate. The law targets the largest social networks in the world, but the authors have made sure Disney+ is not entangled by it by exempting owners of theme parks. According to AP, Walt Disney World is the largest employer in the state.NetChoice was the entity that filed the lawsuit challenging the legislation. The Computer & Communications Industry Association lobbying group representing Google, Facebook and other tech giants. Judge Hinkle stated that plaintiffs would likely prevail on their claim that new law infringes the First Amendment, if the case goes to trial.According to Hinkle"The law compels providers to host speech which violates their standards speech and forbids providers speaking as they would otherwise.
