Fargo Standard

House Republicans are hoping to pass legislation that will stop social media companies from censoring political posts.

North Dakota GOP lawmakers are mainly aiming at platforms like Twitter and Facebook, accusing both of suppressing their voices.

The bill, House Bill 1144, would make it so that the major social networks liable for damages in civil lawsuits in North Dakota for residents “whose speech is restricted, censored, or suppressed," so long as it is not "obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable,” Grand Forks Herald reports.

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Tom Kading (R-Fargo) said while the bill is only for North Dakota residents, it was inspired by the recent ban of President Donald Trump on Twitter.

"It’s just wrong to ban a sitting president,” Kading said, the news media reported.

Chief Operating Officer at Freedom Forum Institute, Gene Policinski said that Kading's bill was baseless as users need to comply with the provider's terms of service.

"This (bill) is more of a statement than a serious law that the courts would sustain," Policinski said to the Grand Forks Herald. 

He added that Twitter and Facebook are private companies so the First Amendment law would not affect them. On top of that, the companies have their own rules of and terms of service and violating them results in suspension or ban.

President Trump's Twitter account was suspended and his Facebook page banned indefinitely after his posts reportedly escalated the violence at the Capitol.