AG Steve Marshall: Section 230 protections, potential discrimination warrant consideration of investigation into big tech censorship

Earlier this week, Attorney General Steve Marshall announced he was partnering with Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry to address censorship on social media platforms.

During an appearance on Mobile radio FM Talk 106.5’s “Midday Mobile,” Marshall explained why he saw the Alabama Attorney General’s office as having justification for an effort that involved questioning actions of private tech companies.

He told FM Talk 106.5 host Sean Sullivan that Section 230 protections and potential discrimination by those platforms could warrant action by Alabama and Louisiana’s top law enforcement officials.

“Here are the two things I would say that make social media just a little bit different,” Marshall said. “Number one is most folks are operating under the normal licenses of businesses also don’t have this immunity granted to social media through Section 230. I think we’ve talked about that a little bit which basically makes them almost immune from suit from somebody who has issues related to the way they were treated on social media platforms. So, to some extent, if Facebook, if Twitter, if Google want to be treated like any other business, they need to withdraw this immunity provision they have been given that has been a shield for them for quite some time.”

“And the other — just like any business, they don’t have the ability to discriminate against those who use their services,” he continued. “And one of the things we’re concerned about is whether or not that is going on. And sometimes folks just sort of default to say, ‘Hey look, Steve Marshall, conservative attorney general — he is worried about conservative causes.’ But yet,  we see it going on with those on the other side. In fact, I just read a study about people of color. They have been uniquely impacted by various rules on social media. This is one I think involves both sides of the political spectrum. We have an obligation we are accepting through this initiative to say we just want to look and see what’s going on and see whether or not there’s anything else we need to do.”

@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly, and host of Mobile’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on FM Talk 106.5.