THE VILLAGES, Florida (LifeSiteNews) – Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis said he is having attorneys look into how the state can leverage its pension fund investments in Twitter to hold the company accountable, including with relation to Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s offer to buy the Big Tech platform.
He made the comments on Tuesday after signing education legislation.
“For me, I think some of these Big Tech companies clearly have been problematic,” Gov. DeSantis said. “I think some of the investments where you look at like the Communist Party of China and what they have been involved in, not just state-owned stuff, but these other companies [backed by China].”
He said the state’s pension investments in Twitter allow it to potentially bring legal action against the company as a shareholder. “That gives us an ability to potentially get some relief.”
Gov. DeSantis Signs Bill to Reform Florida’s Higher Education https://t.co/275WD41D2K
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) April 19, 2022
He said the board of directors of Twitter might need “accountability” if they are potentially breaching the fiduciary duty to shareholders with regard to Musk’s offer.
Gov. DeSantis noted that the state has passed a Big Tech accountability law, which is blocked pending an appeal in the coming weeks.
The 2021 law requires Big Tech companies to tell users a week in advance of a ban and give them an opportunity to resolve the issue. It also allows Floridians to sue the company for being shadow-banned, de-platformed, or censored.
It also requires social media companies to treat all Floridian political candidates fairly and prohibits them from removing anyone running for office in the state.
DeSantis said Musk’s potential Twitter buy could be good for consumers
Gov. DeSantis said he is optimistic that Musk’s potential Twitter buy could be beneficial.
“We do need to see much more diversity of thought in terms of some of these companies,” Gov. DeSantis said. “I think some of the companies should be broken up, because I just think they’re too big and I think they have too much power over our economy and our freedoms.”
While Congress could be needed for antitrust action, Musk’s move would be helpful, he said. The Republican governor noted that the main opponents of Musk are members of the “legacy media” who don’t want free speech and unfiltered news.
“Their view is that they should be able to control the discourse, they should be able to control what you hear and think, they should be able to impose a narrative on our society,” DeSantis said.
“Elon Musk represents a threat to that. And quite frankly he represents a threat to their power, but all he is doing is planning to liberate the platform,” the governor said. “I think that’s a positive thing he is trying to do.”
“You really need to be able to have people stand up and speak the truth,” the governor said.