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Today, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed HB 20 into law.  In doing so, the Republican leader of Texas delivered on a promise he made to fight what he called "wrongful social media censorship."

Was a Law Really Necessary?

The whole issue stems from what many in the Lone Star State believe was an attack on their first amendment rights - especially when it comes to expressing their political opinions on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms.  According to Abbott:

Social media websites have become our modern-day public square. They are a place for healthy public debate where information should be able to flow freely — but there is a dangerous movement by social media companies to silence conservative viewpoints and ideas.  That is wrong, and we will not allow it in Texas.

 

How Will it Protect Texans?

According to the report from KVUE, the new law will prevent social media companies with more than 50 million monthly users from banning users based on the political opinions they post.  The law will also reportedly require these companies to make their moderation policies more transparent, and to set up a "complaint and appeals process" that will giver clearer reasoning for why they decide to remove a post or ban a user.

There are other provisions to the new law that will supposedly protect Texans first amendment rights, you can read all of the details of this new law here.