After being sworn in for his second term as president of the United States, Donald Trump vowed to save free speech rights that have been under fire from the prior administration’s numerous censorship efforts. 
During his post-swearing-in speech at the Capitol rotunda, Trump slammed the previous efforts of the Biden-Harris administration, sometimes in collusion with Big Tech platforms, to crush free speech, and vowed to “bring back free speech to America.”
Trump said to loud cheers, “After years and years of illegal and unconstitutional federal efforts to restrict free expression, I will also sign an executive order to immediately stop all government censorship and bring back free speech to America.”
President Donald Trump: "After years and years of illegal and unconstitutional federal efforts to restrict free expression, I will also sign an executive order to immediately stop all government censorship and bring back free speech to America." pic.twitter.com/aL1yze4YCc
— Media Research Center (@theMRC) January 20, 2025
Trump’s pledge was met with widespread praise on social media, with MRC Free Speech America Vice President Dan Schneider writing: “Pres Trump just issued a reprieve to save the First Amendment! After 4 years of sitting in Biden's Gulag, Trump vowed to stop the government from censoring Constitutionally protected speech. New day!!!”
Trump’s plan for an executive order to end “federal censorship” was first reported by Fox News. Notably, multiple Big Tech CEOs and executives attended Trump’s inauguration, including X owner Elon Musk, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
The newly friendly interactions between Trump and these tech executives followed MRC’s countless exposés of Google, Meta and Amazon’s censorship interference in the 2024 election, including specifically targeting pro-Trump content. MRC research exclusively exposed how Google continues to target Trump nominees with biased search results.
In contrast to Trump’s speech, now-former President Joe Biden repeatedly pushed for censorship during his farewell address, potentially cementing his administration as the most censorship-prone in modern U.S. history.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment and provide transparency. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
