By Marissa Ventrelli | Denver Gazette
Several groups on Friday lauded the Colorado state Senate’s veto override of a bill that seeks to impose certain regulations on social media platforms in the hopes they would crack down on users who violate their rules, while critics called the bill censorious and argued it would give tech companies “too much power” to “de-platform” people.
The Senate voted to override the governor’s veto on a 29-6 vote. The state House is expected to hold its override vote next week.
Senate Bill 086 would require social media companies to evaluate reports of policy violations within 72 hours. If a user is found to have violated the policy, the platform must remove that person or entity within 24 hours. The bill would also require social media companies to submit annual reports detailing documented policy violations and data on minors’ use of their platforms.
The legislation received the support of all 23 district attorneys, as well as Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser.
The bill — sponsored by Sens. Lindsey Daugherty, D-Arvada, and Lisa Frizell, R-Castle Rock, and Reps. Reps. Andrew Boesenecker, D-Fort Collins, and Anthony Hartsook, R-Parker — drew opposition from the ACLU and Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, groups that rarely agree on anything, though they balked at the proposal for different reasons.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Rocky Mountain Gun Owners called the bill “a disturbing recipe for extreme censorship.” A separate post called the measure “nothing more than California-style social media censorship.”