There's a small light at the end of the online censorship tunnel, as a prominent Republican member of Congress has decided to take action in support of internet free speech by pushing for social media giant Twitter, a major free speech offender, to undergo an official third-party audit.
Aiming to stem the tide of conservatives, Christians, white people, and other persecuted groups being "de-platformed" on social media simply for expressing "politically incorrect" speech, GOP Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri has officially put Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey "on notice" that he's not going to stand idly by and watch the First Amendment get trampled by Big Tech.
As we earlier reported, it all started with Alex Jones and his Infowars network, which last summer was removed not only from Twitter, but also from most other major social media platforms. And as we warned, it hasn't stopped there.
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, basically sent out a "red alert" to Natural News readers explaining that Jones and Infowars were just the tip of the iceberg, and that Big Tech, if allowed to do so unfettered, would eventually de-platform many other people, media sites, and subject matter that it deemed "offensive" and worthy of removal.
"Our very right to express any dissenting view is now being threatened," was Adams' beckoning call for members of the American public still with their heads in the sand to wake up. "If the tech giants are not reeled in with aggressive legislative, regulatory or law enforcement action, you will soon be blocked from expressing any online opinion whatsoever."
Twitter de-platformed page of pro-life film Unplanned, only to later "restore" it with 100,000 fewer followers
And this is exactly what's been happening, as pages dealing with subject matter ranging from natural health to conservative politics to self-reliance to homeschooling and pro-life have been successively and systematically removed from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Apple's iTunes Store, and many other prominent platforms.
One of the more recent pages to be targeted was one for the pro-life film Unplanned, which Twitter decided to de-platform right around the time when the film was hitting theaters. The Unplanned Twitter account was eventually restored, but its administrators quickly noticed that some 100,000 followers had vanished in to thin air.
This appears to have been the straw that broke the camel's back for Sen. Hawley, who used this incident as one of many examples in which Twitter has targeted pages for no reason at all, while simultaneously claiming to maintain a "commitment to free speech."
"In light of these events, and in view of Twitter's history of de-platforming conservative voices, it is time for Twitter to open itself to a third-party audit of how and when the company enforces its suspension policies," Sen. Hawley wrote in an announcement.
Sen. Hawley has also been actively pushing for a full-scale investigation into tech companies at large, pointing out that pretty much all of them are doing the exact same thing as Twitter, and that it's against the law.
Social media platforms as a whole have been given a "sweetheart deal," Sen. Hawley maintains, in that they've enjoyed "immunity from liability for illegal content posted by third parties." And instead of providing "a forum for a true diversity of political discourse," Twitter and the rest have created far-Left echo chambers where conservatives and others with opposing viewpoints are no longer allowed.
"Platform companies like Twitter are supposed to rise above that partisan nonsense," Sen. Hawley is quoted as saying.
"You often refuse to allow pro-life organizations to purchase ads because you deem it 'inflammatory' when these groups advocate for the right to life, but you allow those on the other side to advocate for late-term abortion – a practice opposed by more than 80 percent of Americans," he adds.
For more related news, be sure to check out Censorship.news.
Sources for this article include:
Please contact us for more information.