Biden’s dangerous assault on freedom of speech
Biden’s dangerous assault on freedom of speech
Washington Examiner 13 hrs ago
https://www.alipac.us/image/png;base...AASUVORK5CYII=Just days after calling voter identification requirements “the most significant test of our democracy since the Civil War,” President Joe Biden accused Facebook of “killing people” by failing to censor what the White House characterizes as “misinformation” about COVID-19 vaccines.
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https://www.alipac.us/{"default":{"l...&y=400"}}© Provided by Washington Examiner Biden’s penchant for hyperbole would not be so worrisome if his press secretary, Jen Psaki, had not called on social media companies to work together in banning sources from all social media platforms.
“You shouldn’t be banned from one platform and not others for providing misinformation out there,” Psaki said.
The White House’s efforts to deputize social media platforms into becoming de facto government censors should be deeply troubling to every citizen who has ever voiced an opinion outside of the politically acceptable mainstream.
It was not that long ago when some social media platforms actively suppressed claims that COVID-19 originated in a Wuhan laboratory and spread after an accidental leak. It was not that long ago when government officials encouraged people not to buy masks to protect themselves from COVID-19. It was not that long ago experts said COVID-19 spread through physical surfaces or that we had to be a full 6 feet away from each other to socially distance.
In each of these cases, the Biden White House would have preferred to quash any debate about the truth of the virus. They want only one voice of expert opinion reaching people, and they want to ban anyone voicing a dissenting opinion from all platforms.
The implications of this White House conspiracy to shut down speech it does not like becomes even scarier when the subject moves beyond COVID-19. Just consider NPR’s recent story about The Daily Wire in which the story admits that “the articles The Daily Wire publishes don’t normally include falsehoods” but by “only covering specific stories that bolster the conservative agenda and only including certain facts readers still come away with the impression that Republican politicians can do little wrong.”
And: “If you’ve stripped enough context away,” NPR chosen expert Jaime Settle said, “any piece of truth can become a piece of misinformation.”
Truth as misinformation. This Orwellian idea is probably why social media platforms colluded with Democrats to suppress true stories of Hunter Biden’s laptop containing evidence he sold access to his father.
Or why they suppressed evidence COVID-19 did originate from a Chinese communist lab.
Or why they banned books documenting the harm of invasive surgery on confused young children.
The power of social media platforms is only growing. More than half of adults prefer to get their news on a digital platform. Even if the people running these platforms didn’t give 90% of their political donations to one party, it should be worrisome these firms are conspiring with the federal government to control what can and cannot be said about any subject.
Policy solutions to this problem are hard. But the Biden administration is showing the need for a solution is great and growing.
Biden’s dangerous assault on freedom of speech (msn.com)