Pinellas Times

Florida Rep. Chris Sprowls stands with Republican colleagues in supporting the Big Tech Transparency proposal.  

“If democracy is going to survive, we must stand up to Big Tech oligarchs and demand transparency. Proud to stand with @GovRonDeSantis, @LtGovNunez, @WiltonSimpson, @GovGoneWild, @DannyBurgessFL to roll out our proposal to give users control of a type of modern-day public square,” Sprowls wrote on Twitter, one of the Big Tech companies included in the proposal.

The transparency proposal is requiring Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Apple, Amazon, and Google to publish processes and standards that they use for identifying users to be de-platformed, shadow-banned, or determining which posts they determine need to be banned, and stop randomly choosing who and which to censor or de-platformed.

Big Tech companies should stop their frequent revisions in terms of use, clearly communicate policies and revisions, and obtain users’ consent prior to changes, according to the proposal.

The proposal is a call to protect social media users' privacy. 

Sprowls said the “Five families of darkness — Facebook, Twitter, Google, Amazon, and Apple” are leaving users in the dark. 

“Florida is taking back the virtual public square as a place where information and ideas can flow freely. We’re demanding transparency from the big tech giants,” Sprowls said in a news conference.