-
Mullin
Time and time again, Big Tech giants, like Facebook and Twitter, have demonstrated their willingness to ban and censor users they determine do not align with their progressive ideals. They are on a mission to police free speech out of existence, and Congress must act to hold Big Tech accountable for their censorship and anticonservative bias.
So far, the Big Tech monopoly of power has gone fairly unchecked. Their ticket to unlimited power is called Section 230 of the Communications and Decency Act. Section 230 was originally designed to protect online intermediaries that host or republish speech against a range of laws that might otherwise be used to hold them legally responsible for what others say and do. The idea comes from a historic public square, where you could go to your town’s square and literally post, with a hammer and nail, whatever message you wanted. When social media first started, most people viewed it as a modern-day public square where you were able to virtually post whatever you want. The result of this is a highly regulated, heavily policed public discourse that allows Big Tech leaders, like Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Jack Dorsey of Twitter, to decide what should and should not exist in the digital public square.
These companies are able to get away with censoring Americans based on vague objections of “violating community guidelines.” They target users and shadow-ban conservative platforms in order to exert maximum control over the flow of information online. There’s a difference between taking down content that is vulgar and taking down content that is an opposing opinion. Where do they draw that line?
There are many examples of this, perhaps most notably, the fact that President Trump has been banned from all Big Tech social media platforms. They also banned all discussions of the Wuhan Lab COVID-19 Origin Theory on their platforms last year, which evidence is mounting to suggest is true. Believe it or not, Republicans and Democrats find common ground on this issue, we both agree that Section 230 is the biggest problem with Big Tech’s limitless power.
These companies have shown complete disregard for being democratic public squares and seek to suppress speech that does not advance their particular agenda. We must hold these tech giants accountable.