Leftist panelists on CNN had an anti-free speech meltdown because X content is supposedly regulated less than CNN (spoiler alert, it’s not).
CNN pundit Scott Jennings ignited a firestorm on Monday’s NewsNight with Abby Phillip after he cited a survey indicating that X is the most ideologically balanced social media platform. Two of the CNN panelists, journalist Cari Champion and analyst Ashley Allison, immediately began talking over Jennings claiming that the survey, which CNN itself previously reported on, was incorrect and in fact, that more regulation of “criticism” on X is needed. Jennings pushed back against calls for more government regulation of social media content. “How much regulation of the First Amendment are you for?” he asked his fellow panelists.
REPORT: @CNN Left-Wing Talking Heads Call For Speech On @X To Be Regulated.
— John Basham (@JohnBasham) November 26, 2024
They Say @elonmusk Would Not Buy @MSNBC Because The Speech On Cable Is Federally Regulated.
100% WRONG!
SPEECH ON CABLE NETWORKS IS FREE FROM ANY FCC REGULATION!
THEY HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEY'RE SAYING! pic.twitter.com/FkxCWrSCWP
Champion framed X owner Elon Musk’s potential purchase of MSNBC and the upcoming Trump presidency as disasters for free speech, and yet she turned around and argued for censorship. Allison agreed, asserting Big Tech has “carte blanche to do whatever they want right now,” whereas the cable network MSNBC is regulated, she claimed, by the FCC.
“Who's regulating CNN right now?” National Review senior political correspondent Jim Geraghty asked. “We're not broadcast. It's cable.” Jennings then jumped in and added, “I don't really think cable stations are under the same regulatory structure that broadcast is.” Indeed, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) itself states it does not ordinarily regulate cable TV or its content.
Champion pompously responded by claiming that mainstream media journalism should be considered more credible than social media. “There’s still a litmus test of journalism that you have to pass. You can't just come on TV and make on things, make up things and say things — that happens on X,” she rambled incoherently.
She then snapped at Jennings, “Please don't give me the eyebrow furrow as if you don't know what I'm talking about. It happens often on X. I can go and say the color is blue, and I will be met with so many disrespectful remarks. No one's regulating the N-word. No one's regulating the criticism. No one is regulating how people are treated or…” Allison put in, “[Or] the lies.”
Jennings challenged them, “How much regulation of the First Amendment are you for?” Instead of answering, Champion asserted she couldn’t come on TV and just call Jennings names without repercussions. When he pointed out that exact scenario has occurred repeatedly on the show, Champion ended by whining again about the lack of censorship on X, “There's a level of professionalism and what we do here, because we are journalists and we adhere to something at least morally, and there is no moral compass on this thing called X.”
In reality, X regularly censors users, including by deleting content and imposing Community Notes fact checks, as MRC’s unique CensorTrack database shows. But any free speech with which these leftists disagree is too much for them to stomach.
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.
