In what seems like trouble for social media giants Facebook and Twitter, US Senator and a critic of social media companies, Lindsay Graham has said that he wants to license social media firms, says a report by news agency Reuters. Without revealing much details, the US Senator and Republican critic mentioned that he was working on a measure along with Republican Senator Josh Hawley and Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren.
According to the Reuters report, Graham was concerned that social media platforms are not licensed and that is why they can not be sued. Graham's plan could include regulations that would put limits on what speech the companies could take down while also requiring them to be tougher about criminal use of the networks and foreign interference, the report added.
This development comes amid the ongoing legal battle between Twitter and billionaire Elon Musk. The micro-blogging site approved Musk’s $44 billion deal to buy the site on Tuesday as reported by news agency AFP. Twitter's board of directors had earlier requested shareholders to approve the Musk deal, according to reports.
Last week, the Tesla CEO shot off a third notice to Parag Agrawal-led Twitter, aimed at terminating the $44 billion takeover deal. Musk's legal team cited Twitter's multi-million dollar severance payment to former security chief Zatko. The Tesla CEO is also trying to buy more time from the court to kick off the Twitter trial, set for October 17, citing the upcoming testimony by Zatko.
Musk's legal team has proposed a new timeline that would push the week-long trial to late November.
In its latest filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Twitter also denied any breach in paying $7.75 million severance payment to whistleblower Peiter "Mudge" Zatko.
Meanwhile, Twitter whistleblower Zatko has claimed that the Parag Agrawal-led platform hired a Chinese agent working for the country's Ministry of State Security (MSS), and reiterated that the Indian government also "forced" Twitter to hire government agents.