Heres how Twitter has lobbied on free-speech issues as Trump threatens company – MarketWatch

Twitter Inc. and President Donald Trump are generating headlines this week over a dispute tied to social networks attempts to moderate what users post.

But its hardly the first time that the San Francisco-based company has tangled with Washington over free-speech issues.

Twitter TWTR, -1.99% has lobbied this year and last year on a Senate bill called the Ending Support for Internet Censorship Act, according to an analysis of disclosures by OpenSecrets.org, a website run by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

The measure, rolled out last June by Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, would lead to Federal Trade Commission audits of big social-media companies for political bias. As Hawley introduced the legislation, the senator said it states that if tech giants want to keep their government-granted immunity from traditional publisher liability, the companies must bring transparency and accountability to their editorial processes and prove that they dont discriminate.

Trump praised Hawleys bill last July, saying the senator is doing some very important legislation, because we have to do something about what is happening. Hawley talked up his bill on Wednesday in the wake of the presidents latest fight with social-media platforms.

They get this special immunity from suits and from liability thats worth billions of dollars to them every year. Why are they getting subsidized by federal taxpayers to censor conservatives? he told Fox News on Wednesday.

Read more:Trump threatens to close social-media platforms as he fights with Twitter

Twitter and other social-media companies, on the other hand, have criticized the legislation through statements issued by their trade associations.

NetChoice, whose members include Twitter, Facebook Inc. FB, -0.16% , Alphabet Inc.s GOOG, +0.86% GOOGL, +1.07% Google and Paypal Holdings Inc. PYPL, +4.18% , said last June that the bill prevents social media websites from removing dangerous and hateful content, since that could make them liable for lawsuits over any users posting. The trade group also said Republicans should be very worried about Sen. Hawley giving control of the internet to the FTC, since it empowers a future Democratic administration to suppress conservative speech online.

The Internet Association said the measure forces platforms to make an impossible choice: either host reprehensible, but First Amendment protected speech, or lose legal protections that allow them to moderate illegal content like human trafficking and violent extremism. That shouldnt be a tradeoff.

Twitter has spent $350,000 this year on its Washington lobbying efforts as of March 31, according to OpenSecrets.org figures. Thats after the company spent $1.48 million last year its biggest annual outlay on lobbying ever, but far less than the $16.7 million that Facebook Inc. FB, -0.16% shelled out in 2019.

Besides lobbying on Hawleys Ending Support for Internet Censorship Act, Twitter has disclosed lobbying in the past year and a half on the Save the Internet Act, a Democratic measure related to net neutrality, and the EARN IT Act, a bipartisan bill targeting online child sexual exploitation. A company spokesperson said Wednesday that its Public Policy team advocates on behalf of our company, our employees and the people who use Twitter.

Analysts have said that there are so many different bills aimed Big Tech that the chaos likely will prevent Congress from making progress on any one issue.

On Tuesday, Twitter marked tweets by Trump with a fact-check warning label for the first time. The president then tweeted that Twitter is completely stifling FREE SPEECH, and he promised big action against the company.

See:Totally absurd Harvard law prof on Trumps charge Twitter is stifling free speech

Also read:Twitter deeply sorry as widower asks that Trumps Scarborough tweets be deleted but wont remove them

Twitters stock was down about 3% on Wednesday, as the broad S&P 500 index SPX, +0.48% gained 1%. The companys shares have lost 12% over the past 12 months, while the S&P has advanced 7%.

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Heres how Twitter has lobbied on free-speech issues as Trump threatens company - MarketWatch