MSNBC’s Morning Joe guests Wednesday ludicrously complained that a recent ruling barring the Biden administration from colluding with Big Tech to censor Americans inhibits the free speech of the government.
The Missouri v. Biden case has made efforts to hold the Biden administration accountable for colluding with social media companies to muzzle Americans. In a recent injunction, Louisiana Chief District Judge Terry A. Doughty ordered that the Biden administration no longer encourage Big Tech companies to censor constitutionally protected speech. CNBC Squawk Box Co-Anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin and Tulane University Professor Walter Isaacson told co-host Willie Geist that the ruling inhibits the free speech of the federal government.
Sorkin downplayed the government’s role in aiding Big Tech censorship. He claimed that the Biden administration encouraging companies or journalists to take a certain course of action is commonplace and has been for a long time. “The idea of folks just encouraging folks to do one thing or the other, that to me would probably be in the category of free speech, not just for the public to have free speech but for members of the administration to have free speech,” he told Geist.
Isaacson took a more moderated position noting the Twitter Files and saying that the injunction is responding to legitimate concerns of government collusion and censorship. However, he still agreed with Sorkin when it came to the government’s right to free speech. “I think the decision will be refined somewhat because the government has to have the right to have its own free speech to push back when they see things on social media that they think are dangerous.”
MRC Free Speech America Vice President Dan Schneider noted the ridiculousness of these concerns. “The left has just gone completely bonkers,” he said. “MSNBC has outdone itself. This is probably one of the most ridiculous things its reporters have ever said. To suggest that Karrine Jean Pierre can use the power of government to silence the actual free speech rights of American citizens is legally wrong and morally outrageous.” He later added that there is a huge difference between members of the Biden administration acting in their personal capacity and their ability to act acting on behalf of the government.
The lawsuit, which cited MRC Free Speech America research, brought to bear communications between the federal government and social media companies according to Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, who filed the initial lawsuit against the Biden administration along with Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-LA). “We found … email chains between high-ranking White House officials and social media platforms specifically targeting certain individuals, such as Robert Kennedy Jr., Tucker Carlson, Tomi Lauren, and others; directly targeting them and asking those social media platforms to take their content down,” Landry told The Epoch Times. “That is extremely concerning,” he added.
It seems Judge Doughty agreed. “The evidence produced thus far depicts an almost dystopian scenario,” he wrote. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, a period perhaps best characterized by widespread doubt and uncertainty, the United States Government seems to have assumed a role similar to an Orwellian ‘Ministry of Truth,’” he wrote in his ruling.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on so-called hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
