Conservatives appear confident that President Donald Trump’s nominee is the man for the job of tackling Big Tech to ensure the right of Americans to speak freely online.
This may be the beginning of a nightmare for Big Tech. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) senior adviser Nathan Simington was questioned at a critical nominations hearing on Nov. 10 for the role of FCC Commissioner. If named, he could tip the scales at the FCC and give it the power to regulate Big Tech.. Like Donald Trump himself, Simington terrifies both the far left that dominates Big Tech and the establishment right who oppose government involvement in regulating social media companies.
Trump himself chimed in on the hearing’s critical importance, urging his allies and supporters take action to confirm his nominee:
“Nate Simington, a very smart and qualified individual, is having his Senate hearing today. Republicans will hopefully confirm him to the FCC ASAP! We need action NOW on this very important nomination!! @SenatorWicker @MarshaBlackburn @senatemajldr.”
Simington “played a significant role in the agency’s social media regulation agenda,” Benton Institute for Broadband & Society reported. The Institute suggested that, if confirmed, “the nomination would represent a significant blow to Republicans who favor a light-touch approach to telecom policy.”
The Institute added that “his nomination would be a victory for Republicans who want to see the FCC take a larger role in regulating social networks.” It also noted that “In Aug, President Donald Trump abruptly withdrew Commissioner O’Rielly’s nomination after O'Rielly gave a speech opposing making changes to Section 230.”
Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) explained the dire nature of Simington’s potential role to play in that “Big Tech’s pattern of censorship and silencing views with which they disagree … poses the greatest threat to our democracy.” Cruz followed up by asking Simington how he feels about the looming threat of Big Tech censorship, which is now the bane of all Americans from the common citizen to the president himself.
Simington gave the measured but deadly response that Big Tech fears: “In brief the question of Big Tech Censorship,” he replied, is a “great concern to all of us.”
When asked by Cruz if he believed “Section 230 is in need of reform,” Simington declared without hesitation: “I do, and I note that the general council of the FCC has outlined the process by which he believes it’s proper to accept jurisdiction.”
Cruz implored Simington, if confirmed, to remember the “free speech values embodied in our First Amendment and the necessity of robust open debate,” citing the scandal where Big Tech censored a recent story by the New York Post.
Facebook, alongside Twitter, engaged in an unprecedented crackdown this October on the New York Post’s Hunter Biden bombshell story.
In a shocking revelation released by the Post on Oct. 14, purported emails from Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s son Hunter reportedly exposed the alleged nefarious dealings of both father and son in the European state of Ukraine. The story claimed emails were found from a Ukrainian executive Vadym Pozharskyi, an adviser to the board of Burisma, thanking Hunter Biden for the opportunity to meet his father, Joe Biden, in Washington D.C.
Facebook responded by reducing the story’s circulation on its platform, crippling its ability to spread.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact your local representative and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on “hate speech” and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
