On Thursday, the White House announced that it is working with Facebook to censor posts about COVID-19 that it deems "disinformation" and "problematic." As reported by the National Review, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki:
[D]iscussed four key steps the federal government is taking to hold Facebook and other tech titans accountable for identifying and restricting content deemed factually incorrect surrounding the COVID vaccine.
“Facebook should provide publicly and transparently data on the reach of the COVID-19 vaccine misinformation, not just engagement but the reach of the misinformation and the audience that it’s reaching,” Psaki commented. ” This should be provided not just to researchers but to the public.”
She also said the White House had proposed a “robust enforcement strategy” that bridges the properties of the tech titans like Facebook, which also owns the popular apps Instagram and Snapchat, and “provides transparency about the rules.”...
Facebook has an obligation to use its power to “promote quality information sources in their feed algorithm,” Psaki suggested, noting that “Facebook has repeatedly shown they have the leverage” to do so.
Under Joe Biden, the U.S. government is getting into the business of censoring posts it considers "problematic." https://t.co/byYcJs3SJA
— Tommy Pigott (@TommyPigott) July 15, 2021
While Republicans have differing viewpoints on how to approach censorship by Big Tech, we can all agree that it is incredibly problematic that the the Biden Administration is working with social media platforms to censor certain viewpoints. Katie Pavlich wrote:
[W]hat's problematic is this type of approach and censorship from the government.
Early last year Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg emailed Dr. Anthony Fauci offering a partnership to promote and police information about Wuhan coronavirus. That led to Facebook, at Fauci's direction, censoring the lab leak theory for more than year. Only recently did Facebook start allowing posts about the theory, which is exceedingly credible, to remain on the platform.
"Facebook will no longer take down posts claiming that Covid-19 was man-made or manufactured, a company spokesperson told POLITICO on Wednesday, a move that acknowledges the renewed debate about the virus’ origins," POLITICO reported in May. "Facebook’s policy tweak arrives as support surges in Washington for a fuller investigation into the origins of Covid-19 after the Wall Street Journal reported that three scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology were hospitalized in late 2019 with symptoms consistent with the virus. The findings have reinvigorated the debate about the so-called Wuhan lab-leak theory, once dismissed as a fringe conspiracy theory."
When I argued in @WSJopinion on Monday that big tech is serving as the censorship bureau of the government, people called it a “conspiracy theory.”
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) July 15, 2021
Apparently, the difference between a conspiracy theory and reality is…4 days. https://t.co/8tJDga7Ghq
The announcement by the Biden Administration is especially alarming in light of remarks a member of Facebook’s Oversight Board made this week.
Free speech is an absolute human right. https://t.co/xRbdpg36n1
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) July 15, 2021
Republican members of Congress are already voicing their concerns about the White House's statements.
The Biden Administration just announced they are working with Facebook to censor more Americans.
— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) July 15, 2021
Big Tech and Big Government want the same thing → to control you.
As a reminder, America is a land of FREEDOM.
So now the Biden Administration is using @Facebook to impose its #COVID19 speech code. The social media platforms are increasingly just arms of the federal government and the Biden White House https://t.co/HpxQ9NnR6C
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) July 15, 2021
Let’s remember, these are the same companies that treated all talk of any #COVID19 lab connection as illegitimate speech to be banned and penalized … despite knowing nothing about the actual science or intelligence findings
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) July 15, 2021
The White House wants to censor "misinformation" on Facebook while President Biden claims that voter ID laws are worse than Jim Crow.
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) July 15, 2021
To learn more about how big tech is censoring certain viewpoints, join RNLA this Friday at 2 p.m. ET for "Online Censorship of Conservatives: How Should We Respond?"