Congresswomen Slam Tech-Gov’t Censorship Attacks on Free Speech at CPAC

March 2nd, 2023 7:53 PM

“We are dealing with tyranny.” Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY), Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL) and moderator Katie Pavlich, Townhall editor, slammed online censorship and the far-reaching consequences of the attack on free speech.

From calling out the FBI and Biden White House to explaining how the attack on free speech led to the tyrannical policies of the COVID-19 lockdowns, Cammack, Hageman and Pavlich called out Big Tech censorship as “completely political,” as Cammack put it.

Hageman called out the Big Tech-government censorship collusion of the FBI, other government agencies and the White House. Because the First Amendment forbids direct federal government censorship, “they’re doing it through a third party. It’s just as illegal.” She added, “We need to hold not just these agencies accountable, but we need to hold the individuals accountable,” the federal officials most involved with censorship. The representative and attorney said these federal government officials must be held accountable by lawsuits or even losing their jobs.

“They have been completely political in their attempts to collude between Big Tech and government. And one of the key elements that we can hammer on is the Twitter Files,” Cammack said, noting that we now have emails from former NIAID director Dr. Anthony Fauci calling for a “quick and devastating” takedown of medical opinions not in line with the enforced narrative. Twitter executives then followed up months later with that same phraseology, Cammack stated.

She added, “That is why we are so laser-focused on this select subcommittee. The work cannot be more important, we’ve got to right the ship.” Cammack serves on the House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. Pavlich agreed that the First Amendment is a “huge issue” now.

Hageman further insisted that government agencies need to have their spending cut for their various problematic activities. “They are violating the First Amendment of the United States of America when they are using anything to limit our ability to speak and to hear,” she said. MRC Free Speech America created the groundbreaking reports on “Secondhand Censorship,” detailing how many millions of people are deprived of information on social media when users they follow are censored.

Pavlich brought up the extreme censorship and other policies of the COVID-19 pandemic as examples of how damaging government overreach can be. “There are real world consequences that have changed American society and the world forever as a result of this kind of First Amendment censorship and surrogacy,” she insisted. Cammack and Hageman agreed, with Cammack calling it the desire for control or “control factor,” and Hageman slamming it as “tyranny.” MRC Free Speech America logged in our unique CensorTrack database over 800 documented cases of Big Tech censorship of the COVID-19 debate as of February 2022.

Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that government agencies and Big Tech be held to account to uphold the First Amendment and provide equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.