Federal government agencies – and even the White House itself – seem to be working with Big Tech companies to censor Americans who don’t fall in line with the left’s approved narrative. They’ve censored opinions on COVID-19, transgenderism and Hunter Biden’s alleged corrupt business dealings, just to name a few.
On this week’s episode of CensorTrack with Paiten, I spoke with New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA) Litigation Counsel Peggy Little and Jenin Younes to discuss the dangers of Big Tech and government censorship.
Big Tech-government collusion has “major First Amendment implications”, Younes said. “There’s something called State Action Theory and that means that the government can’t use private companies or private industry what it can’t do directly.”
Yet, that is exactly what seems to be happening.
The Twitter Files and subsequent House Judiciary Committee hearings exposed the federal government’s coordination with Twitter to censor Americans.
Twitter Files journalist Matt Taibbi reported that the FBI had “constant and pervasive” contact with Twitter, saying the platform acted like a “subsidiary” of the federal government.
Big Tech “strangled public debate,” Younes said, when it muzzled epidemiologists and scientists amid COVID-19. The egregious censorship harmed Americans by giving the public “the impression there was consensus on these issues, that all experts think we should do lockdowns, that all experts think that we should force vaccines on people and have mask mandates and that just wasn’t true.”
Not only is there evidence the federal government pressured Big Tech to censor speech, but digital paper trails reveal that the federal government dished out hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to fund censorship online.
Little called it a “deeply frightening and Orwellian concept.”
Federal agencies have funneled money to organizations like NewsGuard and the Global Disinformation Index – organizations whose sole purpose is to silence voices under the guise of fighting so-called misinformation and disinformation
In 2021, the Department of Defense awarded a $749,387 contract to leftist website ratings firm NewsGuard.
The British Global Disinformation Index – which attempts to defund outlets it claims spread disinformation – received $330,000 from two State Department-backed entities.
Little encouraged Americans to remain vigilant and informed about the government’s infringement on First Amendment rights. She said, “We’re certainly going to be at the forefront of what is a hugely horrifying and enlarged government campaign for censorship.”
The NCLA works to “protect constitutional freedoms from violations by the Administrative State” through “public-interest litigation and other pro bono advocacy.”
To stay updated on free speech news and to help hold Big Tech accountable, visit CensorTrack.org and follow MRC Free Speech America’s social media channels:
Also, check out some of our previous episodes:
- AI: Censorship’s Final Frontier? A Conversation with Kristen Ruby
- EXCLUSIVE: Backstage at CPAC ft. Bozell, Libs of TikTok, O’Connor & More!
- NewsGuard’s Not So Subtle Censorship
- And more!
Conservatives are under attack. If you have been censored, contact us at the MRC Free Speech America contact form on CensorTrack.org, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
