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Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information, on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or “inconvenient.” Censorship can be conducted by governments, private institutions, and other controlling bodies. Seems like an easy enough explanation to understand compliments of Wikipedia.
Senator Josh Hawley (R-MI):
“The internet has changed, and I think we need to keep pace with change. The dominant, monopoly-sized platforms that exist today didn’t exist then. The business model they employ today wasn’t employed then.”
Hawley has accused social media companies of censoring conservative voices—a charge those companies have repeatedly denied. In June, he introduced a bill in the Senate that would require the FTC to certify that companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Google do not “moderate information provided by other information content providers in a politically biased manner” in order for Section 230 immunity to apply.
Representative Matt Gaetz (R-Florida):
“I’m a conservative. I don’t want Washington running my life, but I sure as hell don’t want Silicon Valley running my life.”
On May 28th President Trump issued an Executive Order on Preventing Online Censorship:
Section 230 was not intended to allow a handful of companies to grow into titans controlling vital avenues for our national discourse under the guise of promoting open forums for debate, and then to provide those behemoths blanket immunity when they use their power to censor content and silence viewpoints that they dislike.
Both political parties have singled Section 230 as a problem, but for different reasons. Democrats want tech companies to moderate content more. Republicans say they moderate too much and need to leave their opinions out of the content. What does the middle-ground look like? If social media companies are in the position in deciding which content to run or not, doesn’t that make them publishers?
Conservative voices are finding themselves in positions where they’re having to go up against these major tech companies. Many are losing their accounts, being removed from social media altogether, and in many cases, with no explanation. Malcolm talks with two voices that are being impacted from this censoring in a big way. Ann Vandersteel, host of SteelTruth an investigative journalism show bringing the news that’s overlooked or missed characterized by the main stream media. Ana Julia, PRIDE Team creator and administrator, a Brazilian American Patriot.