WASHINGTON—Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) told The Wall Street Journal in an interview that he plans to introduce legislation that would make it easier for people to sue the government over censorship.
The yet-to-be-introduced bill—which comes in the wake of the controversy over the brief suspension of ABC late-night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”—would make it easier for people to collect damages from government censorship. It would also codify protections from government censorship, Cruz told the WSJ.
Cruz is one of a handful of Republicans who have been highly critical of Federal Communication Commission Chair Brendan Carr after he suggested to podcaster Benny Johnson that the FCC could take action against ABC affiliates that aired the show. On his own podcast, “Verdict With Ted Cruz,“ the Texas senator called Carr’s threats “dangerous as hell” and did a “Goodfellas”-style imitation of Carr as a gangster attempting to shake down media outlets.
“If the government gets in the business of saying, ‘We don’t like what you, the media, have said; we’re going to ban you from the airwaves if you don’t say what we like’— that will end up bad for conservatives,” Cruz said.
In his newest comments, Cruz provided few specifics about the bill, except to say it was in the works prior to the Kimmel controversy and that it stemmed from efforts by the Biden administration to remove misinformation on COVID-19 from social media platforms.
Cruz also said that he was willing to go on Kimmel’s show to promote the bill.
Similar legislation has been unsuccessfully introduced in the past and has run up against opposition from members of Congress who raised significant concerns about how it might be implemented. One notable problem is that it might make it more difficult to take down content like “beheadings,” “violent, racist attacks,” “sexual assaults” and other videos that social media platforms have deemed to be offensive.
