South Iowa News

Citizens across different states have expressed concern on the size and influence of technology companies. According to a Pew Research Center poll conducted in April of this year, a majority of Americans, 56%, believe that major technology companies should be more heavily regulated than they currently are, compared to 47% of Americans in 2020 and 51% in 2018.

The survey also found that 68% believe that major technology companies have more power and influence than they should. More than half of respondents, 55%, said that technology companies should not be allowed to grow beyond a certain size, even if they obey government regulations, with 42% taking the opposing view that technology companies should be able to grow as large as they please. 

"Iowans will no longer foot the bill for their feckless disregard of our constitutional rights — the right to have freedom of speech, one of the most basic principles of this great republic," Iowa State Sen. Jake Chapman (R- Adel) said, echoing Iowa citizens concerns about social media censorship, according to the Des Moines Register.

Other elected officials in Iowa do not believe that social media censorship of conservative political views is a serious problems, viewing it as an issue manufactured by Republicans to make a political point.

“These platforms are trying to ensure that they are not being abused online to cause harm in real life,” Iowa State Sen. Zach Wahls (D- Coralville) said in disagreement, according to the Des Moines Register. “There is not a problem of conservative speech being censored. That is not a real problem."

Conversely, a June 2020 survey by the Pew Research Center found that most Americans think socials media sites censor political viewpoints. It also reported that 73% of Americans believe that it is very likely, 37%, or somewhat likely, 36%, that social media tech companies are intentionally censoring opinions they disagree with. Only 25% of Americans believe this is not likely. Of Republicans, 90% believe it likely that social media sites censor viewpoints.

April's poll showed a "statistically significant increase" in people who want more regulation compared with three years ago. 

Moreover, the recent poll found that Americans who have heard more about debates regarding the regulation of tech companies are far more likely to support regulations against big tech than less informed individuals — 69% vs. 42%. 

The Des Moines Register reports that the Iowa Senate has passed a bill — SF 580 — which would revoke big tech tax credits and contracts with the government from any tech giants that restrict certain types of speech within their media platform. Any constitutional and free expression that is not criminal, obscene, violent, pornographic or someone else’s intellectual property cannot be censored, lest tax credits be revoked. 

Democrats proposed an amendment to the bill that would have added additional exemptions to protected speech, including promoting an insurrection, promoting activities that constitute fraud in election conduct, foreign election interference and hate speech or harassment, but the Republicans voted down the amendment, the Des Moines Register reported. 

South Carolina has introduced a bill to stop social media censorship. The bill — H. 3450 — would ban social media companies from censoring the comments, posts or shares of an individual who is not calling for violence, posting obscene material, bullying minors or urging criminal conduct.