Florida to consider divesting from tech companies that pulled plug on Trump

(The Center Square) – Florida will consider divesting from technology companies that ban or suspended President Donald Trump’s social media accounts when Gov. Ron DeSantis next meets with his Cabinet.

Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis said Tuesday he will raise the issue with DeSantis, Attorney General Ashley Moody and Agricultural Commissioner Nikki Fried when they meet Jan. 27.

Patronis was responding to a letter from Rep. Randy Fine, R-Palm Bay, that demanded the state audit its investments with major tech companies and divest from those that he maintains are targeting unfairly Trump and his supporters.

In his letter, Fine asked DeSantis and the Cabinet to “order the immediate divestment of any Florida-held equity and debt” in Alphabet (Google’s parent company), Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Twitter.

“This morning I asked the Governor and Cabinet to divest the state from Amazon, Twitter, Apple, Google, and Facebook,” Fine tweeted Tuesday. “They may get to decide who they do business with. So do we.”

Fine said he also will file legislation during the upcoming legislative session “to forbid any state or local government from conducting any business with these companies, effective July 1 of this year.”

That means, he continued, “No Facebook, Twitter, or Google advertising by Florida governments; no use of any Amazon services by any Florida government; no purchases of Apple or Android devices by any government agency.”

Fine is not the first statehouse Republican to propose sanctions on Facebook, Twitter and others for suspending or banning Trump for inciting the violence that rattled the nation’s capital last week.

Sen. Danny Burgess, R-Zephyrhills, noting Apple, Amazon and Google also have pulled the plugs on the conservative-leaning app Parler, filed a bill to address self-proclaimed abuses by “monopolized monster social media companies.”

Burgess filed Senate Bill 520, which would require social media websites to provide individual and business users notice the website has suspended or disabled a user’s account with some recourse available to restore the account.

Under the proposed bill, “if an individual or business user’s social media website account is disabled or suspended by the social media website, the owner or operator of the website must provide electronic notice to the user within 30 days after taking such action.”

SB 520 “originated from numerous constituents facing issues by these monopolized monster social media companies right in our own backyard,” Burgess tweeted. “Our work on this issue has only just begun.”

Fine, who spearheaded a divestment initiative in 2019 credited with helping convince AirBnB to lift its Israel vacation rental ban, said social media companies’ enforcement of standards are selective and muzzle conservative views.

“No matter what one thinks about President Trump, he remains the duly-elected President of the United States until noon on Jan. 20. If the President of the United States can be silenced by these companies, then so can anyone,” he said. “Florida taxpayers should not be forced to do business with entities that censor them.”

Fine said while social media companies are silencing conservative voices in the U.S. and elsewhere, leaders from China, Iran and elsewhere remain active and unfettered across many of the same digital platforms.

“These companies allow actual terrorists around the world to use their platforms to target America, Americans, and our allies, without as much as a peep,” he wrote. “And it is not disputed that Amazon, Apple, and Google are actively working to eliminate any alternative outlets where conservatives can speak freely.”

Patronis agreed quickly with Fine’s request.

“We should consider getting this on the next Cabinet agenda,” he said in a statement. “Big-tech coordinated to shut down conservative accounts but still allows (Venezuelan leader) Nicolás Maduro to spread lies.”

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