DOJ Aims at Big Tech

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TRANSCRIPT

The feds are taking aim at big tech's censorship of largely conservative websites.

Right now, tech companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter are allowed to do business without being sued because of a 1996 law that shields them from litigation.

But over the past number of years, tech giants have been abusing this rule, censoring mostly conservative voices, not treating them fairly, which the current law requires them to do.

Their censorship practices have resulted in the U.S. Department of Justice finally stepping in this past Wednesday, introducing new rules that would strip the likes of Google, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter of their liability protections, allowing them to be sued.

The original rule required they not engage in anything other than simply providing a platform for multiple viewpoints, a rule they were originally following, but are now ignoring, drawing the ire of the attorney general.

Attorney General William Barr: "There's a bit of a bait and switch that's occurred in our society."

Earlier this week, Google demonetized The Federalist and ZeroHedge — both conservative — over unmoderated comments sections that included so-called hate speech — giving them an ultimatum in order to continue making money on their ad platform.

Republican Missouri senator Josh Hawley introduced a bill on Wednesday to punish tech companies engaging in political censorship.

The bill comes on the heels of President Donald Trump signing an executive order May 28 on the issue of social media censorship.

Trump: "They've had unchecked power to censor, restrict, edit, shape, hide, alter virtually any form of communication between private citizens or large public audiences."

Social media sites like Facebook are announcing more campaigns to filter out subjectively defined "hate speech," which is often political, leading to Republican efforts to remedy the issue of big-tech censorship as soon as possible.

Trump: "As president, I'll not allow the American people to be bullied by these giant corporations."

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