Posted on 03/02/2023 10:47:06 PM PST by BenLurkin
A Republican state senator in Florida has introduced a bill that, if passed, would require bloggers who write about Gov. Ron DeSantis, his Cabinet or state legislators to register with the state.
Sen. Jason Brodeur's bill, titled "Information Dissemination," would also require bloggers to disclose who's paying them for their posts about certain elected officials and how much.
"If a blogger posts to a blog about an elected state officer and receives, or will receive, compensation for that post, the blogger must register" with the appropriate office within five days of the post, the legislation says.
It defines "elected state officer" as "the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, a Cabinet officer, or any member of the Legislature."
...
Brodeur...old the website Florida Politics, which first reported on the bill: “Paid bloggers are lobbyists who write instead of talk. They both are professional electioneers. If lobbyists have to register and report, why shouldn’t paid bloggers?”
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
If paid to post as a political opinion I see no problem having a law that the individual most report his earnings as a political contribution from such an endeavor (I do not agree with registering for any reason). Otherwise I see this as unconstitutional.
Slippery slope? yes. Would dems do the same if they could? ABSOLUTELY!
>>Would dems do the same if they could?
But they can’t - and neither can republicans (there’s that pesky constitution again) - how exactly does Florida plan on enforcing this?
Question: Say I am a blogger in CA or NY - what authority does a FL state govt have over what I write?
Answer: none.
Even in FL I would argue they have zero authority for this. Any republican supporting this is ignorant.
And something people can and should do on their own.
A link to the bill...
https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/1316
Part related to this starts on page 5.
People should always trust but verify.
I neither need nor want the government to do that for me.
The government hardly has our best interests at heart, does it?
Especially if it’s encouraging us to allow the government to do our due diligence for us.
So says NBC. Let see it from a reliable source.
GFYS!
Free Political Speech.... gee maybe we should have that instead....
Ridiculous!
Agreed! Completely stupid idea.
There’s a link to the bill.
Why are PACs regulated? Do you know who is behind each PAC? Should you know?
If a politician is paying me to post....should you and everyone else on FR know that? Do you think there are Freepers getting paid???
How do you know I’m not on somebody’s payroll?? I could be.
A blogger is a different animal than a habitual poster. When a political entity hires someone the landscape does change.
Can the law be enforced? How about all the countless laws congress continues to pass? Hardly.
Fair questions though...
If true that is unconstitutional.
Half of the folks on the ukraine or vax threads are paid rand corp types. And so what?
1st Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Few people know that press reporters have constitutional protections, while bloggers and others do not. If a person belongs to a professional "press", <-- legal term there, organization, they do not have to disclose sources, they get automatic free-passes to events and areas others are kept out of, and are constitutionally protected. They rely on the "or of the press" clause of the 1st Amendment.
Amateurs are not protected in any way. They rely on the free speech clause of the 1st amendment. They are not the "press".
What this law says is that if a person is a professional, and is paid and under hire, they must disclose that they are not amateurs but members of the "press", <-- again, legal term there.
Most trolls are paid propagandists. Very few effective online personalities are just individuals with political views. They work for and are paid by opposition candidates and people with big money for products like covid drugs and other products.
In effect, this law registers who is and who is not in the press. It delineates the amateurs from the press. This is a massive shift in law in that while the liberals want to register everyone's 2nd Amendment rights by registering guns, this creates a registration of the press, a 1st Amendment registration.
It also exposes the dark money, the illegal money used by opposition candidates to skirt the money limit laws in campaigns. That money pays people to advertise directly for candidates and by also throwing mud on opposition candidates. We often hear of millions spent on a campaign and wonder where the money goes. With the advent of the Internet, the money is going to paid social media propagandists; not TV advertisements, not radio, not print. It goes to the pockets of people in the press and to social media managers not in the press. This law creates a disclosure law, and it demands everyone fess up to who is paying them.
Big money has bought all of our politicians. Every last politician is bought out; State, local, and federal. Now, they are spending their remaining money, lots of it, on paying people on the web to pretend to be individual contributors. They gaslight every topic, and they use twisted logic very effectively because people cannot discern fact from fiction anymore. They do not know how to ask for sources of record, and many of those sources are now compromised too.
This law says that if you are being paid to say something, then you are not the press but an advertiser, and the people should know who is paid to say things and who are really members of the press.
Slippery slope, those registrations of rights.
In reality, some pros post regularly on FR,Twitter and Fakebook. . Doesn’t take long to see through the messaging and who they might be working for. When it comes to candidates and not issues....it’s quite obvious. Many are simply negative provocateurs stirring up controversy.
They know who they are. If they are paid political operatives....so should we.
Full disclosure....I’ve fired my bosses.
P.S. There is a contradiction in my comments, and that was on purpose. It catches the trolls. See if people catch on to it.
I’m pretty sure the 1A provides the right to a “free press” and says nothing about “unless paid”. You can be paid to do anonymous journalism. That doesn’t give the State the right to know anything about content creators. Making people “register” wreaks of intimidation. Of course, the State would *never* abuse the information right?
This is one of our most sacred rights. Which means I can’t be forced to “register”. That would be like the 2A, you can own a gun but must “register” it so the State knows who, and where, you are.
Nope.
Is it ok for the FBI to pay sources to do dirty work and target political candidates using the media and social media?
How bout the CIA paying assets to appear on tv and radio shows or even paying journalists to report in a certain fashion.
The freedom to report/freedom of the press fades into the background when money begins to exchange hands for political purposes.
Do you know whether the people you are watching nightly are paid political operatives or just journos??
You might be very surprised..... at least Fox is honest about calling some of their regular guests... Fox News Contributors. CNN and MSNBC don’t
Unconstitutional on its face.
So if I go onto YouTube and make a video about some politician I don’t like and wonder of wonders the channel gets monetized I have to register with Florida. What about scenario sounds like it was sponsored by the CCP?
Think you’ve got your definitions 90° off there.
Press and speech aren’t a line between professional and amateur, they’re a line between oral and written(/video). Freedom of speech allows you to say what you want, free of government interference; while of the press is in reference to materials you may print/publish.
Of course, this doesn’t even touch the debate over whether these apply to everything, or just speech/press related to politics and public matters.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.