It appears Democrat vice presidential nominee Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) has taken the Big Tech bait in calling for censorship of so-called "hate speech" and "misinformation." But former Independent candidate for president Robert F. Kennedy Jr. corrected Walz for his outrageous take on America's first principles.
Walz claimed in Dec. 2022 on MSNBC’s The ReidOut that U.S. law does not protect supposed “misinformation” or “hate speech.” RFK Jr. slammed Walz’s argument in a Sept. 18 post on X, pointing out that there is, in fact, a protection for speech that leftists consider “hateful”: “It is called the U.S. Constitution.” As for the leftist buzzword “misinformation,” Kennedy retorted, “who decides what is true and what is false? The government? In authoritarian countries, yes, the government. That is why freedom of speech lies at the very heart of democracy.” Walz’s running mate Kamala Harris has called five times for her now-presidential opponent Donald Trump to be censored by Big Tech, including in a 2019 CNN interview.
Big Tech platforms, including X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, have policies penalizing or banning alleged “hateful conduct,” “hate speech,” and/or “misinformation.” These platforms also use so-called fact checking to censor speech that, according to the left, is “misinformation” or “false information.”
In the brief MSNBC clip, Walz appeared to echo Big Tech’s censorship rules, asserting: “I think we need to push back on this. There’s no guarantee to free speech on misinformation or, or hate speech, and especially around our democracy.”
Yes there is, Tim. It is called the U.S. Constitution. That is exactly what prevents the government from stifling dissent by labeling something “hate speech” or “misinformation.”
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) September 19, 2024
Yes, I understand, some forms of speech are repugnant, such as expressions of racial bigotry.… https://t.co/ECB2O4Napt
Kennedy corrected Walz in a post on the X platform, pointing out that the Constitution “is exactly what prevents the government from stifling dissent by labeling something ‘hate speech’ or ‘misinformation.’”
Kennedy, who was running for president as an Independent before dropping out and endorsing GOP nominee Donald Trump, continued, “Yes, I understand, some forms of speech are repugnant, such as expressions of racial bigotry. Problem is, the category of hate speech expands to include everything the censors ‘hate.’”
Kennedy correctly points out the subjective nature of defining “hate” and discerning what should or should not be censored as misinformation online. For instance, leftist Big Tech censors have notoriously labeled scientific affirmations of two biological sexes as hate speech against LGBTQ individuals, as MRC’s CensorTrack database shows. For example, Vimeo deleted a 2023 video from the David Horowitz Freedom Center about transgender Adm. “Rachel” Levine, while X restricted a post last June from The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh with a clip of Walsh’s “What Is a Woman?” documentary.
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 “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.
