At a contentious Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday, Senate Republicans torched the liberal CEOs of Facebook and Twitter for their sleazy censorship of conservatives on their platforms. Ironically, the events at the hearing were subsequently censored by ABC, CBS, and NBC as they refused to share the news during their evening newscasts. Instead, they chose to fear-monger about President Trump’s refusal to concede, suggesting it was a national security threat.
In fact, this wasn’t the first time the broadcast networks censored the censorship hearing. At the end of last month, they refused to cover how the CEOs were brought before Congress to answer for their attempted and failed cover-up of the Hunter Biden story.
Fox News Channel correspondent Gillian Turner was the one to share news from the hearing with Special Report viewers Tuesday. “Republicans on the Senate Judiciary panel went all-in on accusations that anti-conservative bias has infected every aspect of Twitter and Facebook, they also noted the irony of Twitter's ban on a New York Post stories about Hunter Biden's foreign business dealings,” she reported.
Turner also shared multiple soundbites of GOP senators tearing into the big tech CEOs. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) confronted Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey over the Orwellian tactics his company employed to try to squash the Hunter Biden story:
CORNYN: You do realize that by taking down that story, you probably gave it more prominence and visibility than it ever would've gotten had you left it alone.
DORSEY: We realize that and we recognize it as a mistake.
She also highlighted clips of Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Mike Lee (R-UT) blasting big tech’s role in manipulating the election and harboring leftist domestic terrorists, respectively:
TURNER: Republicans argued the real problem with social media's role in the presidential election is the left.
CRUZ: There was a time when Democrats embraced and defended the principles of a free press. And yet there’s an absolute silence from Democrats speaking up for the press outlets censored by big tech.
TURNER: Ditto for political violence on the platforms.
LEE: The only violence I'm aware of has occurred in connection with Antifa.
“In one very heated exchange, Senator Josh Hawley pressed Mark Zuckerberg about these new allegations that Facebook sometimes coordinates with Google and Twitter,” Turner added as she wrapped up her report. “Zuckerberg insisted they do coordinate on some security measures but not on anything related to content moderation.”
Now there were plenty of clips of the liberal senators the broadcast networks could have highlighted if they didn’t want to give conservative arguments any credence.
Turner shared claims from Senator Richard “Stolen Valor” Blumenthal (D-CT) suggesting conservatives were “getting a pass on social media,” as she paraphrased. And then there was Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who whined about social media censorship not going far enough.
But if the networks did share what happened at the hearing, that might cause some viewers to do more research. And they can’t have that.
This censorship of the censorship hearing was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Fidelity on ABC, Purina on CBS, and Consumer Cellular on NBC. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about the biased news they’re funding.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
Fox News Channel’s Special Report
November 17, 2020
6:07:49 p.m. EasternBRET BAIER: The top executives with tech giants Twitter and Facebook were on defense against senators of both parties today up on Capitol Hill at a hearing before the Judiciary Committee. Complaints had to do with censorship, political bias, and the enormous power the social media companies wield. Correspondent Gillian Turner takes a look tonight.
[Cuts to video]
GILLIAN TURNER: Republicans on the Senate Judiciary panel went all-in on accusations that anti-conservative bias has infected every aspect of Twitter and Facebook, they also noted the irony of Twitter's ban on a New York Post stories about Hunter Biden's foreign business dealings.
SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): You do realize that by taking down that story, you probably gave it more prominence and visibility than it ever would've gotten had you left it alone.
JACK DORSEY (Twitter CEO): We realize that and we recognize it as a mistake.
TURNER: Democrats, though, say it's conservatives who are getting a pass on social media.
SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT) How many times is Steve Bannon allowed to call for the murder of government officials? Will you commit to taking down that account?
MARK ZUCKERBERG (Facebook CEO): No, that's not what our policies would suggest that we should do.
TURNER: Republicans argued the real problem with social media's role in the presidential election is the left.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): There was a time when Democrats embraced and defended the principles of a free press. And yet there’s an absolute silence from Democrats speaking up for the press outlets censored by big tech.
TURNER: Ditto for political violence on the platforms.
SEN. MIKE LEE (R-UT): The only violence I'm aware of has occurred in connection with Antifa.
TURNER: The other prominent issue today, the hundreds of warning labels slapped on Trump posts during the election. Something CEO Mark Zuckerberg says is a drop in the bucket compared to the 300,000 posts flagged overall.
ZUCKERBERG: I believe this was the largest election integrity effort by any private company in recent times.
TURNER: But Democrats are arguing the exact opposite, warning labels don't go far enough.
SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D-CA): Voter fraud garnered more than 300,000 interactions on your platform in the hours after Mr. Trump falsely declared victory.
[Cuts back to live]
TURNER: In one very heated exchange, Senator Josh Hawley pressed Mark Zuckerberg about these new allegations that Facebook sometimes coordinates with Google and Twitter. Zuckerberg insisted they do coordinate on some security measures but not on anything related to content moderation. Bret.
BAIER: Gillian, thank you.
