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ouse Oversight Committee Republicans rejected a slew of amendments to weaken their legislation against government coercion of tech platforms (HR 140) at a markup Tuesday, warning that Democrats’ proposed exceptions were so vague they would gut the bill’s speech protections.
The Protecting Speech from Government Interference Act amends the Hatch Act, which prohibits political activity by federal employees, to prohibit the use of “official authority” to influence or coerce any “interactive computer service” to remove or suppress “lawful speech,” add disclaimers or alerts, or restrict access to users.
Penalties include termination, up to a five-year ban on federal employment and fines that are 10 times steeper for White House staff than for other covered employees. President Biden himself would be spared because the Hatch Act doesn’t cover the president or vice president.
The Biden administration worked to “normalize” censorship of “politically inconvenient” accounts, Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) said, introducing a “tightly drafted” substitute amendment with three law enforcement exemptions: child pornography, human and drug trafficking, and protection of “properly classified national security information.”
