Columbia Standard

A growing consensus of Americans believe that tech companies should be scrutinized more now than in previous years, and South Carolina isn't far behind, according to a recent Pew Research Center poll.

The state is also grappling on how best to deal with the issue of social media’s impact on everything from political views to the pandemic, with lawmakers proposing a bill that would ban censorship of users on many platforms by big tech companies.

South Carolina lawmakers recently introduced a bill to address the issue. The bill, H. 3450, would forbid social media companies from suppressing the comments, posts, or shares of an individual so long as they aren’t inciting violence, being obscene, bullying underage people, or urging criminal conduct.

Pew has reported that a preponderance of Americans — some 56% — think that top technology companies should be more heavily regulated than they currently are, compared to 47% of Americans in 2020, and 51% in 2018, with 68% believing that social media and big tech companies such as Facebook, Twitter and Google, sway more power and influence than should be allowed.

Americans who have heard more about debates regarding the regulation of tech companies are far more likely to support regulations against them than less informed individuals — a convincing 69% to 42%, according to Pew.

Pew also found that the majority of conservatives said they believe that big tech censors opinions.

Pew, a nonpartisan think tank, stated that 73% of Americans said they believe that it is very (37%) or somewhat (36%) likely that social media tech companies are intentionally censoring opinions they disagree with.

In contrast, 25% of Americans believe this is not likely with an overwhelming 90% of Republicans believing big tech companies censor viewpoints.

According to NPR, a Georgia House panel of state lawmakers is in the process of discussing the best practice to produce free speech on social media sites as opposed to forcing regulations on social media behemoths such as Facebook and Twitter. The panel is hoping to find a nonchalant method based on the principles of the first amendment, along with the rights of private businesses.

Georgia state Rep. Chuck Martin, a Republican member of the Fulton County House delegation, said that social media companies shouldn’t censor viewpoints, but also said it wasn't the government's intention to regulate private companies.

“This is just something that one has to look and be very careful that there’s not an overstep and be very careful that we don’t express our subjectivity over the top of another set of subjectivity,” Martin said, according to NPR affiliate WABE 90.1 FM. “Because by doing that, we’re not making it any better, and we could actually be making it worse.”

Georgia House Chairman Ed Setzler, a Republican, said it was important to address whether lawmakers could lawfully have any say so in matters regarding social media.

“We do well to define, ‘Is there a problem, what’s the nature of the problem, and if there is a problem, is it something the Legislature should address?’ Maybe we shouldn’t,” Setzler said, WABE reported.