(PresidentialWire)- Florida, the newest Republican safe state, is preparing for battle with Big Tech as Joe Biden and the Democrats prepare to take over all three chambers of government. On Tuesday, a Florida Republican state representative published an open letter to Republican Governor Ron DeSantis urging him to stop the state doing business with big tech,
Specifically, Rep. Randy fine requested that DeSantis and his cabinet “order the immediate divestment of any Florida-held equity and debt of the following companies: Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Apple and Alphabet (Google).
The letter comes after Big Tech companies initiated sweeping censorship efforts, which included Twitter permanently suspending President Donald Trump and 70,000 other accounts. Facebook has also suspended the president’s account at least until inauguration day and this week, YouTube also stopped the president from publishing videos or broadcasting on YouTube.
Social media companies blamed the violent unrest that occurred on January 6 on Capitol Hill, where a small contingent of protestors chose to storm the Capitol Building and engage in violence. Big Tech and the Democrats quickly pointed the finger at President Trump, despite Trump having issued warnings against committing violence and encouraging protests to always be peaceful.
Rep. Fine said in his letter that the unrest he saw at the Capitol was “one of the saddest days” of his life, and that “terrorists defiled a sacred temple of democracy.”
The state representative also called out Big Tech for using the tragedy as an excuse to silence conservatives.
“I am deeply disturbed to see the country’s major technology companies use the actions of these few as a pretext to silence tens of millions of good, patriotic Americans, millions of whom live here in Florida,” he said in the letter.
“No matter what one thinks about President Trump, he remains the duly-elected President of the United States until noon on January 20th. If the President of the United States can be silenced by these companies, then so can anyone.”
Rep. Fine also recalled an instance where the state put pressure on AirBnB, the property rental service, for discriminating against Jewish Floridians.
“We spoke with a clear voice, telling AirBnB that if they boycotted them, we would do the same. And our actions ultimately helped convince them to change course. Now it is time to do that with these companies,” he said about Big Tech.
Rep. Fine is calling on Governor DeSantis to stop Floridians’ tax money to be spent on doing business with companies that censor them.
This morning I asked the Governor and Cabinet to divest the state from Amazon, Twitter, Apple, Google, and Facebook. They may get to decide who they do business with. So do we. @Fla_Pol pic.twitter.com/QfoUhghgnP
— Randy Fine (@VoteRandyFine) January 12, 2021
And given how staunchly pro-freedom Governor DeSantis has proved to be so far, it seems fairly likely that he would take action.
Could Florida be the state that takes the first step in fighting back against Big Tech?
