Social media stocks are sinking as GOP lawmakers consider new regulation

Jack Dorsey

Social media stocks are down Friday.
Some GOP lawmakers are pondering whether social media companies censor conservative opinions, which they believe would call for legislation.
Twitter is getting hit the hardest.

Social media stocks are losing ground Friday after Bloomberg Law's Michaela Ross reported that some GOP lawmakers are kicking around the possibility of new regulation.

Twitter is the biggest loser on the day, down almost 5%, while Snap and Facebook are lower by 3% and 1%, respectively.

Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee are concerned that social media companies may be censoring conservative viewpoints.

"I'm not for more government regulation," Rep. Louie Gohmert said, according to Bloomberg. "But I do think, since they are deciding what goes on and what gets censored, they should be liable. And I'm working on laws to make that happen."

Social media companies have been under intense scrutiny by both the government and the media, in light of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Twitter and Snap have been hit hard, down 17% and 13%, respectively. Meanwhile, Facebook is little changed thanks to strong earnings after seeing a sharp drop in the wake of the scandal.

Twitter is up 17.55% on the year while both Snap and Facebook are down about 5%.