Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is poking fun at news outlets for using his picture in articles about legislation he does not support.
During an event on Wednesday, the governor sought to distance himself from a bill introduced in Florida that would require certain bloggers to register with the state.
“Whenever something happens in Florida – it could have nothing remotely to do with me, if they can try to make it about me… they put my picture up there,” DeSantis said.
He continued, “There was a legislator that filed a bill that the media didn’t like. And I said it’s not something I support… that bloggers would need to register with the state under certain circumstances. So they’d be reporting on this, and they have my picture on there when this is not a bill that I’ve advocated for, it’s not a concept I support.”
“But yet they do it because they get more clicks if they can rope me into it. And that’s just kind of the way it is,” he added.
Watch the video below:
WATCH: DeSantis mocks media coverage of pay-to-play blogger bill
— Florida’s Voice (@FLVoiceNews) March 8, 2023
"Whenever something happens in Florida – it could have nothing remotely to do with me […] They put my picture on there when this is not a bill that I've advocated for, it's not a concept I support." pic.twitter.com/kTOf1OkVt5
The legislation DeSantis mentioned, Senate Bill 1316: Information Dissemination, would apply to bloggers who write about him, his Cabinet, Attorney General Ashley Moody (R), and the state legislature.
According to the bill, anyone who writes “an article, a story, or a series of stories” about “the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, a Cabinet officer, or any member of the Legislature” and is paid must register with the state within five days of the publication of the article.
If another post is added, the blogger must submit a report on the 10th of every month.
And if there is a month when there is no new content, they would still have to report it.
NBC News reports, “The bill says the bloggers’ reports to the state ‘must include’ the ‘individual or entity that compensated the blogger for the blog post,’ and ‘the amount of compensation received from the individual or entity.’”
It added the legislation “defines a blog as ‘a website or webpage that hosts any blogger and is frequently updated with opinion, commentary, or business content,’ but it says the ‘term does not include the website of a newspaper or other similar publication.’”
Some outlets used DeSantis’ picture as their featured image in their stories about the bill.
NBC News presidential historian and author Michael Beschloss also appeared to suggest earlier this week that DeSantis supports the bill.
MSNBC’s @BeschlossDC: “[@GovRonDeSantis] really has tried to turn him self into sort of a local Mussolini in Fla. What w/ the book banning, the brutal tactics, & … the suggestion that bloggers have to register w/ the state … This is fascism & authoritarianism” pic.twitter.com/Wz8fem6Bf9
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) March 5, 2023
He claimed the governor is turning into “a local Mussolini in Florida with the book banning and the brutal tactics, and even this week, this suggestion that bloggers have to register with the state for the honor of writing about the governor and other political leaders.”