Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) has appealed to Big Tech companies to prioritize free speech ahead of the 2024 election.
In response to Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and a group of seven Democrat lawmakers writing to tech companies to insist on increased online censorship in the lead up to the election, Schmitt sent a letter of his own. His Oct. 24 letter to the leading executives of Google, TikTok, Meta, Microsoft, X, Instagram, YouTube and Snap expressed concern “that Representative Schiff and his colleagues may be attempting to pressure your company to suppress speech on your platforms ahead of the 2024 presidential election.” But Schmitt urged the Big Tech executives instead to “recognize[] the importance of Free Speech and the ability of Americans to speak their mind in the modern public square of social media platforms.”
Schmitt asked that all the companies “resist any pressure from elected officials or Executive Branch officials to engage in viewpoint censorship ahead of the 2024 presidential election.” He noted further: “Fortunately, the First Amendment’s codification of our right to Free Speech prevents politicians from directly making use of government power to censor their opponents.”
But, as Schmitt exposed in the Murthy v. Missouri lawsuit he filed when he was attorney general in Missouri, Democrats, “including at the highest levels of the federal government, have attempted to pressure” Big Tech into censoring free speech they disagreed with.
The senator cited several recent shocking examples of the left calling for censorship online. These included former climate envoy John Kerry complaining that the First Amendment was a “major block” to “hammer[ing] [disinformation] out of existence” at a September World Economic Forum event. And Democrat vice presidential nominee Tim Walz falsely asserted on MSNBC that there’s “no guarantee to free speech on misinformation or hate speech.” Walz later defended censorship using a debunked legal standard during the CBS vice presidential debate.
Schmitt also mentioned how Murthy exposed the Biden-Harris administration’s collusion with Big Tech to censor COVID-19-related speech, even “humor and satire.” MRC’s unique CensorTrack database includes many examples, such as Facebook and Instagram deplatforming and unpublishing Covid vaccine-critical Children’s Health Defense in 2022. Facebook also censored satire site The Babylon Bee in 2021 for mocking Covid masking policies.
Schmitt ended the letter with a series of questions about whether Big Tech companies had received pressure from multiple government entities (besides Schiff) to censor, if a list of such requests has been kept, and if the companies have already or intend to respond, how they did or will do so.
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.
