Censorship
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) and Congressman Mike Gallagher (R-WI) signed a letter demanding that Twitter ban Chinese propaganda accounts. The two Republicans sent a letter to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey demanding Twitter ban Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials and all foreign leaders who use Twitter while not allowing their citizens to do so. One egregious example was when Twitter allowed Spokesperson & Deputy Director General, Information Department, Foreign Ministry of China Lijian Zhao to point a finger at the U.S. and suggest, “It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan.”
One of the leading tech writers not only chided Facebook for not censoring more but went right after the platform’s co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Co-founder of the liberal technology news website Recode and opinion columnist for The New York Times Kara Swisher blasted “white men” who run Silicon Valley, like Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg. She later referred to him as “malevolent” and suggested that he should do more to censor on his social media platform.
A new report is urging Congress mandate greater transparency from Big Tech, not a Section 230 overhaul. But will that be enough to protect conservative free speech online? Ranking Digital Rights (RDR) released a report Tuesday headlined “It’s Not Just the Content, It’s the Business Model: Democracy’s Online Speech Challenge,” as federal lawmakers look into reining in Big Tech over concerns about free speech, online child exploitation, privacy and misinformation.
I love that dystopian stories are “in” for young adults right now because, hopefully, they’re taking some of these messages to heart. In Hulu’s new offering Utopia Falls, the message is clear: the big government that says they’re keeping you safe is actually keeping you in prison or enslaved - you just haven’t figured it out yet.
While ABC and CBS were largely putting aside the many controversies of former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to tout his rapid rise in the polls Tuesday, Leta Hong Fincher, the wife of a former award-winning Bloomberg News reporter was busy reminding the public of how Bloomberg censors his reporters who cover China and threatens those that don’t submit.
Instagram announced in May of 2019 that it would be fact-checking and “reducing distribution” for what it considered to be “disinformation.” Since then, it seems to be targeting pro-life content. Brazilian third-party fact-checker Aos Fatos reviewed and labeled a story from pro-life news organization LifeNews as “Falso” on Feb. 14. Instagram, a sister company to Facebook, took the rating (which was not in English) and censored LifeNews’ story, covering the image with a filter that users had to click through in order to see.
When billionaire President Donald Trump is successful in the social media game, the left either accuse him of Big Tech collaboration or want to censor him. Yet when billionaire Democratic presidential candidate and owner of Bloomberg News Michael Bloomberg tries to solicit the help of Silicon Valley tech experts to boost his own chances, the outcry barely registers a cautionary blip for the left.
Liberal billionaire “Godfather of the Left” George Soros thinks Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg should not be in charge of Facebook. Joining a host of others on the left, Soros fears Zuckerberg’s recent free speech stance and believes Facebook might help get President Donald Trump re-elected.
In exercising projection, CNN’s so-called “Reliable Sources” sought to decry President Trump’s “imperial presidency” on Sunday by emphasizing how there was no such thing as “right-wing media” vs. “liberal-media,” but, in fact, it was a “propaganda apparatus” vs. a “media apparatus.” Yes, it was the same show that said Trump had killed more people than Hitler, Stalin, and Mao combined, claimed the “future of the Earth” hung on Trump’s removal from office, and insisted Trump was a “destructive cult” leader.
Colleges have been around for centuries. College students have also been around for centuries. Yet, college administrators assume that today's students have needs that were unknown to their predecessors. Those needs include diversity and equity personnel, with massive budgets to accommodate. According to Minding the Campus, Penn State University's Office of Vice Provost for Educational Equity employs 66 staff members.
2019 was another year of smashing success for the NewsBusters team as we had umpteen media stories to cover throughout the year, whether it was the Jussie Smollett debacle, the Mueller Report, impeachment, 2020 debates, and more online censorship. While it may seem repetitive, NewsBusters would be nowhere near what its become since its inception in 2005 without the support of beloved readers (and adversaries) who view us as essential reading.
Hate crimes are tragic. Now they are typically followed by calls for government crackdowns on speech. In the wake of the attack on a Hanukkah celebration at a Rabbi’s home in Monsey, New York, weekday morning CNN Newsroom co-host Jim Sciuttointerviewed a local Jewish community leader named Steve Gold. When Sciutto asked what can be done to solve this going forward, Gold, the co-president of Jewish Federation and Foundation of Rockland County suggested censoring free speech on social media platforms.