On Wednesday, the Free Speech Alliance (FSA) responded to President Donald Trump's executive order addressing social media platforms' bias against conservatives by releasing the following statement setting out four principles these platforms need to adopt.
Last week President Trump signed an executive order responding to the undeniable bias against conservatives on social media platforms. President Trump wasn't just angry about being personally fact-checked. He was expressing the frustration of the right and saying strongly that we are tired of being abused, suspended, censored, banned and otherwise mistreated on what are supposed to be free speech platforms.
The Free Speech Alliance has been declaring since its inception that it’s time for social media companies to embrace the ideals of the First Amendment. Instead, they have layered on new rules, added restrictions, employed biased "fact-checkers," created a leftist oversight board, and much more. It's time for them to stop their campaign against conservatives:
Stay out of politics.
Stop censoring us.
Stand up for free speech.
Spread American freedom around the world.
If Twitter, Facebook, and Google/Youtube embrace the four principles we have been encouraging from the beginning, it would go a long way towards addressing the concerns of conservatives. Those principles are:
1) Provide Transparency: We need detailed information so everyone can see if liberal groups and users are being treated the same as those on the right. Social media companies operate in a black-box environment, only releasing anecdotes about reports on content and users when they think it necessary. This needs to change. The companies need to design open systems so that they can be held accountable, while giving weight to privacy concerns.
2) Provide Clarity on ‘Hate Speech’: “Hate speech” is a common concern among social media companies, but no two firms define it the same way. Their definitions are vague and open to interpretation, and their interpretation often looks like an opportunity to silence thought. Today, hate speech means anything liberals don’t like. Silencing those you disagree with is dangerous. If companies can’t tell users clearly what it is, then they shouldn’t try to regulate it.
3) Provide Equal Footing for Conservatives: Top social media firms, such as Google and YouTube, have chosen to work with dishonest groups that are actively opposed to the conservative movement, including the Southern Poverty Law Center. Those companies need to make equal room for conservative groups as advisers to offset this bias. That same attitude should be applied to employment diversity efforts. Tech companies need to embrace viewpoint diversity.
4) Mirror the First Amendment: Tech giants should afford their users nothing less than the free speech and free exercise of religion embodied in the First Amendment as interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court. That standard, the result of centuries of American jurisprudence, would enable the rightful blocking of content that threatens violence or spews obscenity, without trampling on free speech liberties that have long made the United States a beacon for freedom.
Signatures:
L. Brent Bozell III
Founder and President
Media Research Center
Jenny Beth Martin
Honorary Chairman
Tea Party Patriots Action
Marjorie Dannenfelser
President
Susan B. Anthony List
Adam Brandon
President
FreedomWorks
David N. Bossie
President
Citizens United
Thomas Spence
President and Publisher
Regnery Publishing
Penny Nance
President and CEO
Concerned Women for America
Morton Blackwell
President
Leadership Institute
LTC Allen West
Senior Fellow
Media Research Center
Justin Danhof
General Counsel
National Center for Public Policy Research
Will Chamberlain
Publisher
Human Events
Mathew Staver
Founder and Chairman
Liberty Counsel
Tim Wildmon
President
American Family Association
Charles Copeland
President
Intercollegiate Studies Institute
Rachel Bovard
Senior Director of Policy
Conservative Partnership Institute
Ed Corrigan
Executive Director
Conservative Partnership Institute
Kristan Hawkins
President
Students for Life of America
Terry Schilling
Executive Director
American Principles Project
Brigitte Gabriel
President
ACT for America
Saulius Anuzis
President
60 Plus Association
Lori Roman
President
American Civil Rights Union
Christie-Lee McNally
President
Raven Strategies
Rick Manning
President
Americans for Limited Government
Deborah Weiss, Esq.
Attorney and Author
Sharon Slater
President
Family Watch International
Floyd Brown
Publisher
Western Journal
Dr. Ted Baehr
Chairman
Christian Film and Television Commission
David Kupelian
VP and Managing Editor
WorldNetDaily
John-Henry Westen
Editor-in-Chief, Co-Founder
Life Site News
C. Preston Noell III
President
Tradition, Family, Property, Inc.
Bill Donohue
President
Catholic League
Anne Schlafly Cori
Chairman
Eagle Forum
Steve Jalsevac
Managing Director, Co-Founder
Life Site News
Jon Schweppe
Director of Policy and Government Affairs
American Principles Project
Austin Ruse
President
Center for Family and Human Rights
Ryan Williams
President
Claremont Institute
Becky Gerritson
Executive Director
Eagle Forum of Alabama
George Rasley
Managing Editor
Conservative HQ
Kassy Dillon
Founder and President
Lone Conservative
Mark Fitzgibbons
President of Corporate Affairs
American Target Advertising
Paul Gessing
President
Rio Grande Foundation
Ryan Bomberger
Chief Creative Officer
The Radiance Foundation
Rod Martin
CEO
The Martin Organization
James Nolan
President
Crossroads Pro-Life Walks Across America
James Taylor
President
Heartland Institute
Gene Mills
President
Louisiana Family Forum
Steven Ertelt
Editor
LifeNews.com
Kevin Freeman
NSIC Institute
Founder and Chairman
Gavin Wax
Publisher
The Schpiel
Elaine Donnelly
President
Center for Military Readiness
