Free Speech Online - Page 10

Law professor, former Trump official, and communications law expert Adam Candeub joined Alex Marlow on SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily today, arguing that Republican voters need to pressure their state legislators if they want local bills to rein in Big Tech to succeed.

On lockdowns, vaccine passports, critical race theory, E-verify, and many other issues, Florida governor Ron DeSantis leads the way for Republicans. But in one important area, Big Tech censorship, he is being let down by poorly crafted legislation.

Apple has approved social media platform Parler to return to its App Store, which will effectively allow iPhone users to download the Parler app once again.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has reportedly joined a growing YouTube alternative called Rumble in response to Google’s recent removal of a video featuring DeSantis and a number of Ivy League-educated medical experts discussing the negative effects of ongoing lockdowns.

Facebook is calling for more regulation of the tech industry, including a vague call for “more transparent” content moderation and accountability for hosting illegal content, but makes scant mention of regulation to prevent censorship and political interference by the Silicon Valley giants themselves.

The Facebook oversight board, commonly known as the “Facebook supreme court,” which was established by the social network as a quasi-independent body to hear appeals on Facebook’s decision to censor or ban content, has now been empowered to demand more censorship from Mark Zuckerberg’s platform.

Twitter reportedly censored sports journalist Jason Whitlock over his criticism of Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Khan-Cullors over her purchase of a $1.4 million home in a mostly white neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Palantir founder and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel criticized Big Tech companies for banning Donald Trump and other conservatives yesterday, in a roundtable discussion hosted by the Richard Nixon Foundation.

Music streaming service Spotify has reportedly continued to censors episodes of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast from its platform as part of its $100 million exclusive deal with the show. 42 episodes have now been censored by the platform, with reports indicating more episodes are likely to disappear. Some censored episodes appear to have been targeted based on jokes.

“We will soon have no choice but to address how our legal doctrines apply to highly concentrated, privately owned information infrastructure such as digital platforms” wrote Thomas.

In a recent interview, Apple CEO Tim Cook discussed the upcoming iOS 14.5 privacy update that will provide users with greater transparency over which apps are tracking them, calling privacy the “top issue of the 21st century.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) was locked out of her Twitter account for a second time over the Easter holiday, in what the company says was an error. This is the second time Rep. Greene’s account has been “accidentally” locked by the Silicon Valley tech giant.

Google-owned YouTube is now forcing politically dissident videos into “private” mode only, limiting viewership only to the video’s uploader and preventing them from being seen by a public audience.

Twitter censored Harvard professor of medicine Martin Kulldorff, a member of the COVID-19 vaccine safety subgroup that advises the CDC, FIH, and FDA, because he challenged the notion that children and young people require COVID-19 vaccination.

Earlier this month, Breitbart News exclusively published an unreleased federal report concluding that there is no link between internet free speech and “hate crimes.” The report was prepared by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and was sent to Congress, but has yet to appear on any government website.

Conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation has reportedly turned down multiple six-figure donations from tech giants Google and Facebook in the last year due to the Masters of the Universe censoring conservative voices.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said during a recent congressional hearing on misinformation on social media that his social media company made a “total mistake” by censoring the New York Post’s bombshell article about Hunter Biden. When pressed by Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), Dorsey claimed “Well, we don’t have a censoring department.”

Jack Dorsey, Sundar Pichai, and Mark Zuckerberg all testified before a joint hearing of two congressional committees today. With the chief executives of three of the most powerful technology companies facing questions from lawmakers, you’d expect some interesting things to be said, right?

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said during a hearing Thursday that he will “honor” the potential decision by the company’s oversight board to reinstate former President Donald Trump’s Facebook account. The Facebook “Supreme Court” is packed with anti-Trump and progressive individuals.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg defended his company launching a version of Instagram for pre-teens, claiming, “there is clearly a large number of people under the age of 13” who want to use the social media platform, adding, “I think something like this could be quite helpful for a lot of people.”

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has proposed a reform to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, the oft-discussed law that gives tech companies a range of legal immunities not enjoyed by other types of companies.

A recent report from the Guardian claims that Facebook’s bullying and harassment policies allow for “public figures” to be targeted in ways that are banned across the site such as “calls for [their] death,” according to internal moderator guidelines.

Reporters Without Borders, an international Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) based in France, is suing Facebook over deceptive trade practices, on the basis that it allows “disinformation and hate speech to flourish on its network.”

Twitter censored exclusive photos from Project Veritas showing thousands of immigrants sleeping on the floor in tight quarters at a Texas detention center, hiding the content behind a filter marked “potentially sensitive.” Twitter later reversed the censorship, calling it an error.

Twitter temporarily restricted the account of Josh Mandel, the former treasurer of Ohio, state representative, and a primary candidate to succeed Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) as a U.S. Senator. Twitter said the restriction was due to a violation of its “hateful conduct” policy.

Twitter locked the account of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) on the same day that Democrats launched an effort to expel her from the House of Representatives, in a move the company later said was an “error.”

According to a recent report, Facebook is developing a new version of Instagram aimed at children under the age of 13.

Republican legislators in the Florida House of Representatives have introduced legislation to protect political candidates from censorship by big tech platforms.

Facebook announced this week that it is changing the way it recommends groups and will limit the reach of those that break its rules.

The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing Friday on the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act, which would in practice have the effect of allowing establishment media companies to form a cartel to pressure Big Tech companies for more censorship and payoffs.

In its latest exposé, the investigative journalism group Project Veritas has revealed footage of Facebook Global Planning Lead Benny Thomas highlighting the need for the government to break up Facebook. Thomas adds, “No king in the history of the world has been the ruler of two billion people, but Mark Zuckerberg is — and he’s 36.”

Social media giant Facebook has announced that it will soon be labeling all posts discussing coronavirus vaccinations with links to official information about COVID-19 from organizations like the World Health Organization.

A Twitter bug resulted in users who posted the word “Memphis” temporarily locked out of their accounts over the weekend.

The Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott (R), sparked controversy and condemnation from Jewish conservatives on social media after he branded the free-speech friendly social network Gab an “antisemitic platform,” a charge strongly denied by the company.

Google-owned video platform YouTube has reportedly removed more than 30,000 videos that the Masters of the Universe claim made misleading or false claims about coronavirus vaccines over the last six months.

Apple has blocked Parler from returning to its App Store, which would have allowed new users to download the social media app on iPhones.