Politicians don’t like critical articles about them. Mike Masnick writes that Jason Brodeur, a Florida state senator, has introduced a bill to force bloggers to register if they write about DeSantis or other elected Florida officials and get any payment for it. They would then be ordered to file monthly reports on their blogging.

As Masnick notes, the bill is a blatant violation of the First Amendment. Its purpose is obviously to scare bloggers out of writing about DeSantis. The bill text is available on the Florida Senate’s website.

The bill would be especially interesting for people who write through ghostwriting websites. By contract, usually they aren’t allowed to claim authorship of their articles. The bill would require them to provide links to the articles they wrote, subjecting them to conflicting requirements. It isn’t clear to me whether the bill would apply only to Florida bloggers or claim authority over the entire world.

Masnick is a bit free in spreading the blame. Brodeur is solely responsible for the bill. He could have submitted it at DeSantis’s request, but the article doesn’t provide any evidence that he did. No co-sponsors are listed. If others vote for it, that will be another matter. In a saner world, the bill wouldn’t have a chance, but I can’t reassure anyone that it won’t be passed.