States Step in to Set Internet Rules While Congress Dilly-Dallys
Virginia, Florida, Arkansas and Maryland are among dozens of states that have introduced bills to curtail the power of Amazon, Google, Facebook and Twitter.
WASHINGTON — News outlets in Florida may soon be able to sue Facebook and Twitter if the social media companies take down their content.
Arkansans shopping on Amazon will be able to see contact information for third-party merchants, which the site won’t be required to show people outside the state.
Residents of Virginia can ask Google and Facebook not to sell their personal data, and the state can sue the companies if they don’t comply.
The moves are the result of an extraordinary legislative blitz by states to take on the power of the biggest tech companies. Over the past six months, Virginia, Arkansas, Florida and Maryland have been among at least 38 states that have introduced more than 100 bills to protect people’s data privacy, regulate speech policies and encourage tech competition, according to a tally by The New York Times.
That is a drastic escalation from past years. For online privacy alone, states proposed 27 bills in 2021, up from two in 2018, according to the International Association of Privacy Professionals.
