Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) slammed Democrats during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing over their calls for social media platforms to increase censorship.
The hearing, entitled “Breaking the News: Censorship, Suppression, and the 2020 Election,” featured testimony from Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
“There’s an absolute silence from Democrats speaking up for the press outlet censored by Big Tech. There is an absolute silence for Democrats speaking out for the citizens silenced by Big Tech.” Cruz said. “Instead, there is a demand: use even more power to silence dissent, and that’s a totalitarian instinct that I think is very dangerous.”
“There was a time when Democrats embraced and defended the principles of free speech. There was a time when Democrats embraced and defended the principles of a free press,” Cruz added.
“[C]onsistently the message from Senate Democrats is for Facebook and Twitter and Google to censor more, to abuse their power more, to silence voices that Senate Democrats disagree with more,” said Cruz.
Meanwhile, Big Tech is provided with broad protections that Section 230 provides. Cruz said Congress has essentially given Big Tech “a subsidy” that no one else gets “while they become some of the wealthiest corporations on the face of the planet.”
The timing for this hearing is fitting, considering Twitter and Facebook’s constant censorship of posts related to the election. Senate Republicans had been itching for another chance to confront Twitter and Facebook about the censorship of the New York Post story that claimed to expose alleged corrupt dealings of former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden in Ukraine. A recent post-election poll conducted by MRC found that 36 percent of Biden voters were not aware of this story.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact Facebook headquarters at 1-650-308-7300 and Twitter at (415) 222-9670, and contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on “hate speech” and 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.
