On Thursday’s Evening Edit, Media Research Center Founder and President Brent Bozell excoriated Big Tech a day after a House subcommittee hearing on the matter, telling the Fox Business Network’s Jackie DeAngelis that these “monster corporations” have “as much power or more power than any of the other three branches of the federal government” because they have continue to face no accountability from Congress.
Bringing in Bozell, DeAngelis pointed to Thursday’s New York Post cover that “call[ed] out a perceived double standard at Twitter for allowing Iran's Ayatollah to call for the destruction of Israel while also saying that President Trump's tweets inspire harm.”
Bozell noted that “private companies” “have every right” to conduct business and police content, but “what they don't have a right to is special protection as an objective platform where they can't be held legally liable for what they do.”
He added that these corporate CEOs “don't have the right to go to Congress to say things under oath, commit perjury and say...to Congress that they have no — they have no biases when, on a daily basis, they are censoring conservatives every single day” and, seeing as how they censor President Trump, “they can censor anyone.”
After DeAngelis wondered what should be done to “break this apart” and “take some action,” Bozell made that claim about Silicon Valley having “as much or more power” than any branch of the federal government because the former has never been subject to “checks and balances.”
He then continued and cited changes to Section 230 of the Communications Act as a solution (click “expand”):
These are massive — these are the biggest corporations in the world — in history. They have power worldwide and they’re deciding what is and what isn't acceptable speech. They're deciding that if you're the Ayatollah Khomeni calling genocide for Israel, calling them a cancerous growth, calling for their elimination, that’s okay because it is commentary.
But if you're the President of the United States calling for law and order in the United States, you're censored because somehow you're abusive. This is out of control. They have to be held accountable, section 230 of — of the Communications Act that gives them protection that says they won't be held liable for what they say. You have got to take that protection away from them. They have to be held liable just like Fox News is. Fox can't get away with the saying the kind of stuff they're saying and yet they're protected and Fox is liable.
DeAngelis concluded with a nod to the upsetting news about the shrinking U.S. economy in the second quarter (due to the coronavirus pandemic) while, “at the same time, we’ve got the tech companies” with “stock prices” and “earnings” that “are soaring.”
Bozell concurred that they’ve been “making a fortune of money and so long as there is competition, I think that would be a wonderful thing,” but there hasn’t been free market competition in Silicon Valley:
These are behemoths. These are monster corporations. Trill — Apple has a trillion dollars in cash. How are going to compete with them? How are going to compete with Amazon? How are going to compete with Facebook? You can't compete with them, so you have got to do something where antitrust is concerned.
To see the transcript of Bozell’s FBN hit on July 30, click “expand.”
FBN’s Evening Edit
July 30, 2020
6:46 p.m. EasternJACKIE DEANGELIS: Just as many of the big tech companies took to the Hill yesterday, the cover of today's New York Post calling out a perceived double standard at Twitter for allowing Iran's Ayatollah to call for the destruction of Israel while also saying that President Trump's tweets inspire harm. So is Twitter within its rights to police its platform the way it sees fit or is this just another example of anti-conservative bias on social media? Let's ask the president and founder of the Media Research Council [sic], Brent Bozell. Great to have you with us tonight, Brent. You know, yesterday
BRENT BOZELL: Thanks for having me.
DEANGELIS: — we watched that hearing on the Hill. You had Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter wasn't there. Let's start with the question first. Are these social media questions just getting out right out of hand with respect to how they're censoring content?
BRENT BOZELL: You know, Jackie, they have every right as private companies. They have every right to censor anyone they wish. However, what they don't have a right to is special protection as an objective platform where they can't be held legally liable for what they do and secondly, they don't have the right to go to Congress to say things under oath, commit perjury and say right to the — to Congress that they have no — they have no biases when, on a daily basis, they are censoring conservatives every single day. There is one being censored. I had dinner with four senators last flight and I pointed out to them last night, if they can censor the President of the United States and get away with it, they can censor anyone they would like to and it’s what they're doing.
DEANGELIS: I want to talk to you about Facebook per se, because Mark Zuckerbrook [sic] — Zuckerberg was on the Hill yesterday. You know they were all testifying virtually. He was saying, basically that, they don't interfere in any way. That there’s no bias here. Google said we’re not going to interfere in the election. We're not doing anything to swing it either way, yet so many people believe they are. What can the government do about this? I mean, part of going on the Hill yesterday, starting to investigate and look at you know, antitrust suits, possibly saying they're too powerful or that they have monopolies, but you had all four of these companies there and there are all different types of companies. How do you break this apart to try to start to take some action?
BOZELL: Well, I would suggest to you that Silicon Valley has as much power or more power than any of the other three branches of the federal government today. Why? Because there’s a system of check and balances on the judiciary, on the legislative, AND on the executive. There’s no checks and balances on silicon valley. These are massive — these are the biggest corporations in the world — in history. They have power worldwide and they’re deciding what is and what isn't acceptable speech. They're deciding that if you're the Ayatollah Khomeni calling genocide for Israel, calling them a cancerous growth, calling for their elimination, that’s okay because it is commentary. But if you're the President of the United States calling for law and order in the United States, you're censored because somehow you're abusive. This is out of control. They have to be held accountable, section 230 of — of the Communications Act that gives them protection that says they won't be held liable for what they say. You have got to take that protection away from them. They have to be held liable just like Fox News is. Fox can't get away with the saying the kind of stuff they're saying and yet they're protected and Fox is liable.
DEANGELIS: Well, what’s so interesting also is as this is going on, they're also raking in profits. We've been in the midst of a pandemic. We had a first quarter estimate –I’m sorry — a first estimate of second quarter GDP that the economy contracted more than 30 percent. It’s the worst that we’ve since the Great Depression. Yet, at the same time, we’ve got the tech companies, stock prices are soaring. They’re reporting earnings and they’re soaring and they're essentially getting paid to do this.
BOZELL: They're — they’re making a fortune of money and so long as there is competition, I think that would be a wonderful thing. There is just a little problem with this. There can't be competition. These are behemoths. These are monster corporations. Trilll — Apple has a trillion dollars in cash. How are going to compete with them?
DEANGELIS: You can’t
BOZELL: How are going to compete with Amazon? How are going to compete with Facebook? You can't compete with them, so you have got to do something where antitrust is concerned.
DEANGELIS: It’s really tough. Brent, thank you so much for the insight tonight. Great to see you.
