Texas now passes social media 'de-platforming' law

Texas has made it illegal for social media platforms to ban users "based on their political viewpoints".Prominent Republican politicians have accused Facebook, Twitter and others of censoring conservative views.

Former US President Donald Trump was banned from Facebook and Twitter after a group of his supporters attacked the Capitol in January.

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The social networks have all denied stifling conservative views.

However, these platforms do enforce these terms of service which prohibit content such as incitement to violence and coordinated disinformation.

"Social media websites have become our modern-day public square," Texas Governor Greg Abbott was quoted by BBC.

He said this after he signed the bill into law on Thursday.

"They are a place for healthy public debate where information should be able to flow freely.

"But there is a dangerous movement by social media companies to silence conservative viewpoints and ideas."

Meanwhile, the US Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against the state as it claimed the abortion law in Texas ''clearly unconstitutional."

"This kind of scheme to nullify the Constitution of the United States is one that all Americans, whatever their politics or party, should fear," US attorney general Merrick Garland told the reporters.

Earlier, US President Joe Biden had slammed the Texas abortion law and said it creates an ''almost un-American'' vigilante system.

While Vice President Kamala Harris had said ''the right of women to make decisions about their own bodies is not negotiable."

Despite massive protest, the US Supreme Court had refused to block the near-total ban on abortion, setting the stage for an intervention by the Justice Department.

The harshest abortion law in the US, called the ''Texas Heartbeat Act'' took effect on September 1.

Under the law, abortion is banned once the heartbeat of a child is detected, usually near six weeks of pregnancy. It faced massive backlash as it makes no exceptions for rape or incest.

People in Texas are allowed to sue the doctors who perform the procedure as well as report drivers who drop clients to abortion clinics.