Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis struck down a bill that would require bloggers who write about elected officials for money to register with the state. The governor said he has never and would never support such a measure.
The “Information Dissemination” bill, introduced by State Sen. Jason Brodeur, would require anyone who gets compensated to blog about the Governor, his Cabinet, the Attorney General and all members of state legislature to register with the state within five days of posting. They would be required to state who compensated them and how much they were compensated. Afterwards, the bloggers would be required to present monthly reports on the 10th day of each calendar month.
At a press conference after delivering the annual State of the State address, Gov. DeSantis said he does not support the bill, effectively rendering it dead on arrival.
“Every person in the legislature can file bills. I see these people filing bills and there are these articles with my face on the article, ‘bloggers are going to have to register with the state,’ attributing it to me,” said Gov. DeSantis.
“That’s not anything I’ve ever supported, I don’t support. I’ve been very clear on what we are doing.”
