If a scandal happens, and the media does not report it, did it really happen?
It might sound like a philosophical question, but it is very much relevant to what is happening in our country right now. Big Tech has openly declared war on conservatives and is currently engaged in the largest information suppression campaign in our country’s political history.
Big Tech’s Censorship of the New York Post
Last week, the New York Post – the country’s oldest continuously published newspaper – exposed a scandal involving the crack-smoking Hunter Biden. The Post’s story contained a series of emails between Hunter Biden and Burisma – the Ukrainian energy company on whose board he served between 2014 and 2019.
What we gather from the story is that Hunter Biden monetized his access to his father – who was the Vice President at the time – and managed to rake in truckloads of money. His business associates at one point were literally bragging about having a direct pipeline to the Obama-Biden administration.
In a normal country, this story would have made headlines everywhere. But, as you might have noticed, we are not a normal country anymore. Far from reporting the story, the mainstream media actually called it ‘fake news’ and criticized the Post for publishing it.
Big Tech, on the other hand, went a step ahead and suppressed the story to make sure it does not go viral on their platforms. Twitter locked the New York Post’s account and blocked users who tried to re-tweet or share the story – including the White House Press Secretary. The excuse given was that the story violated their policy against sharing hacked materials.
That’s right. The same company which allowed – and still allows – the Democrats to tweet the most ridiculous, cooked-up stories about President Trump and his associates is suddenly concerned about ‘sharing hacked materials’.
For four years, the Democrats have tweeted and re-tweeted hundreds of reports that called President Trump a Russian asset without a shred of evidence. Now that one of their own is in hot water, Twitter is worried about the ‘authenticity of the information shared on their platform’. Isn’t that cute?
Facebook, for its part, did everything it could to reduce the reach of the story and prevented it from going viral. The same platform – which had no problem with people discussing completely made-up stories about Trump’s tax returns, his business deals with Russia, and his phone call to the Ukrainian President – now pretends to care about reports based on ‘anonymous sources’.
Big Tech – Owned by Left-Liberals
If you have any doubts, check out the following links.
- Here is a video where Google’s founders, CEO, and CFO can be seen lamenting Trump’s 2016 victory.
- Here is an internal briefing from Google which states that the company does indeed censor online conversations to make sure ‘unwelcome political events’ (like the election of Trump) do not happen again.
- Here is a briefing which shows that YouTube manipulates its algorithms to censor anti-abortion views and promote pro-abortion views.
- Here is a story which states that Google actively tries to de-platform and undermine the ad revenue of right wing websites like Breitbart.
- Here is a story on a class action lawsuit filed by James Damore, who was unceremoniously fired from Google, about the company’s support for the domestic terrorist organization called Antifa.
- Here is a report which states that Twitter and Facebook censor prominent conservative accounts with alarming regularity.
Now, the question is – what can be done about it?
Another writer on this website argued that conservatives should migrate en masse to alternative social media platforms like Parler, which are known for their pro-free speech policies. This is, however, not a viable option for two reasons.
- Firstly, Big Tech (Google, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter) have the lion’s share of the market. If you are not on these platforms, you cannot propagate your message to hundreds of millions of people around the world. Your reach would be restricted to a tiny minority of people who are on platforms like Voat and Parler.
- Secondly, and more importantly, Big Tech is not satisfied with censoring users on their platforms. They are also actively working to de-platform and demonetize any website that they deem as a threat to their monopoly. So, websites like Parler and Voat might fold in the foreseeable future.
So, what exactly can we do? This is where a little piece of legislation called ‘section 230’ enters the picture.
Reforming Section 230 – Need of the Hour
The root cause of Big Tech’s rogue behavior can be traced back to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which states that online service providers cannot be treated as publishers and hence cannot be liable for the content published on their platforms.
It basically gives China loving Big Tech the carte blanche to do whatever they want, as they know that they cannot be held to the same standards as a newspaper or a news channel. This is why, as long as Section 230 exists in its current form, black baby killing Big Tech cannot be touched.
What the federal government needs to do is either repeal or reform Section 230 so that tech companies can be held liable for their actions. What if we added a clause to Sec. 230 which states that online service providers cannot be held liable for the content shared on their platforms – only as long as they do not actively suppress or censor information?
Such a clause can level the playing field, as tech companies will be wary of the fact that if they tried to spread fake news, amplified the voice of criminal and terrorist elements like Antifa, or tried to unlawfully censor their users’ views, they could face legal action.
Conservatives need to realize that this is not the time to play fair. The left has declared war on us and we need to pay back in kind. If they win, they will scrub the internet clean of conservative voices and turn it into a left-liberal echo chamber. If you find it hard to believe, take a look at what our public schools and universities have become!