Brevard lawmaker sanctioned by Facebook over masks post
TALLAHASSEE — State Rep. Randy Fine got in hot water with Facebook over a post he said was informing residents about a school board meeting on masks, but a board member said was an incitement to harass her on her personal cell phone.
Now, the incident means the fight over mask mandates in schools could lead to new changes to Florida’s new Big Tech law, another heavily-debated new law that’s already been temporarily halted by a judge.
Fine, R-Brevard County, was sanctioned by Facebook and prevented from posting on the platform for 24 hours. He said the penalty was for a post he made last month that included the personal cell phone number of Brevard County School Board member Jennifer Jenkins, who is pushing for a mask requirement for K-12 students.
Jenkins was so alarmed she sent a complaint to the state attorney’s office based on the provisions of the new anti-riot law against online harassment, who forwarded it on to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Fine said he hasn’t heard from any law enforcement official telling him he’s under investigation.
The Big Tech law includes fines for social media platforms that “deplatform” a candidate for office, and Fine is running for reelection in 2022. The law has been struck down by a federal judge for now, but Fine’s brush with Facebook’s penalties is pushing him to draft changes to it.
“What is particularly concerning is Facebook’s refusal to provide an explanation as to why I was deplatformed,” Fine said in a statement. “As the digital public square, there is no question that the Florida Legislature needs to ensure that Facebook is not engaged in arbitrary viewpoint discrimination. Should our current law not be upheld in court, I will propose new legislation to hold them accountable.”
The day-long digital timeout started Sunday and ended Monday afternoon.
Fine was told by Facebook that his post on the morning of July 29 violated its standards. The post alerted constituents to a Brevard County School Board meeting later that day when the subject of masks in schools was to be discussed and urged them to call Jenkins, a vocal proponent of a mask requirement.
“At tonight’s school board meeting, Jenkins intends to ask the board to compel parents to require their children to wear masks next school year,” Fine wrote. “If you want to stand up for your rights, call Jenkins RIGHT NOW and let her know exactly how you feel,” then added Jenkins’ number.
Posting personal identifying information such as addresses and personal phone numbers on social media has been seen as harassment or bullying, which could violate the terms of service of Facebook and other platforms.
But Fine wasn’t specifically told why he was in Facebook’s penalty box. He said he doesn’t think the post was harassing, saying it only directed readers to contact a public official about upcoming school board matters.
Jenkins disagrees. She received “hundreds” of calls to her personal phone but said she didn’t send a complaint to Facebook. Jenkins has a history with anti-LBGBT protesters gathering outside her home in April, upset at comments she made in support of proposals to allow transgender women to compete in girls’ sports.
That history led her to file the complaint.
“My privacy has been more than breached,” Jenkins said in an interview. “It’s not about me, it’s not about the inconvenience that you had people calling my phone, I couldn’t care less about that. It’s more that I have to worry about the safety of my daughter and my neighbors. And any fuel you add to the fire … I feel like you’re being complicit in it.”
After Fine’s ability to post on Facebook was restored, he scoffed at Jenkins’ complaints at his post.
“Replatformed on FB,” Fine posted on Twitter. “If you complain of doxxing (because of a) ‘private phone’ given to 200 voters, probably shouldn’t distribute (it) publicly during campaign.”
The post included a photo of the Brevard County Supervisor of Elections website that showed her number and home address.
The new law prohibits Big Tech companies from removing users who are political candidates from its sites or censoring their posts. As written, the law only applies to large tech companies like Apple, Google, Facebook, Twitter and Amazon. They would face fines of $250,000 per day for statewide candidates and $25,000 for local candidates.
Other parts of the law bar tech companies from removing users who aren’t candidates from their site for more than 14 days.