The new head of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is asking the American people to help him address potentially illegal social media censorship.
FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson, newly empowered by the Trump administration, is requesting reports on possible violations of the law by censoring speech. Ferguson could find a trove of shocking censorship cases recorded in MRC’s unique CensorTrack database, where MRC has built up years of data on nearly 8,000 censorship cases. Ferguson announced a website under which Americans can report cases by May 21.
“Big Tech censorship is not just un-American, it is potentially illegal,” Ferguson declared on X. “The FTC wants your help to investigate these potential violations of the law. We are asking for public submissions from anyone who has been a victim of tech censorship (banning, demonetization, shadow banning, etc.), from employees of tech platforms, or from anyone else who can shed light on these practices and the ways in which they may violate the law.”
Ferguson also provided a link to a series of questions for filing reports, many of which MRC can answer using its CensorTrack database.
For instance, the FTC asked, “Under what circumstances have platforms denied or degraded (‘shadow banned,’ ‘demonetized,’ etc.) users’ access to services based on the content of the users’ speech or affiliations?”
Each CensorTrack case provides relevant information. For example, in September 2024, Google Search and its Gemini chatbot suppressed results for the query “second assassination attempt on Donald Trump.” Additionally, as of Jan. 27, MRC Free Speech America found Wikipedia was blacklisting all right-leaning media outlets.
Another FTC question was, “How did the platforms’ adverse actions affect users”?
CensorTrack not only details how the censorship affected the targeted user but also measures the secondhand censorship effect—specifically, how the user’s followers were affected.
The FTC also requested information on platforms’ public censorship policies. CensorTrack outlines the rules the platforms cite in each case. For instance, in January, Google-owned YouTube deleted content from the Military Arms Channel channel, claiming a violation of its “firearms policy.” Similarly, in December, Google kicked PragerU out of its App Store for supposedly spreading “misleading claims.” Indeed, MRC found 39 times Facebook interfered in elections and 41 times Google interfered in elections, especially through censorship.
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 so-called 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.
