The Villages - April 19, 2022: Governor DeSantis has placed Walt Disney World in the crosshairs. In a proclamation issued Tuesday morning he expanded the agenda of the April Special Session now under way in Tallahassee by authorizing the Legislature to consider legislation terminating "independent special districts."
At a news conference in the Villages Tuesday the Governor announced that his target was Disney's Reedy Creek Improvement District.
The decision to target Disney follows the entertainment giant's criticism of the 'Parental Rights in Education' bill that the Governor signed into law last month. DeSantis accused Disney of "crossing the line" and said he would be "receptive" to legislation curbing Disney's special privileges.
The proclamation also allows lawmakers to consider legislation relating to current Florida Law having to do with "unlawful acts and practices by social media platforms", like Twitter.
At the Villages news conference the Governor went on to say that his administration is now looking at filing a lawsuit against Twitter for planting a poison pill to prevent a takeover offer by Elon Musk. He said Twitter's view is that "they should be able to control the discourse and Elon Musk represents a threat. But all (Musk) is doing is vowing to liberate the platform."
DeSantis said he hopes Musk's offer is eventually accepted by the Twitter Board, but given the poison pill approved by the Board, he acknowledged that Musk's offer "is probably not" going to be accepted. "So we’re going to look at our options,” he said.
The grounds for any lawsuit against Twitter would be 'denial of shareholder value' based on Musk’s offer. The Florida pension fund has some money invested in Twitter. If his lawyers conclude the case is strong, the Governor said he would take action.