Free Speech

The fate of free speech on the internet could be discussed at an upcoming discussion hosted by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). The News Media Alliance (NMA), a thousands-strong coalition of U.S. news organizations, is criticizing the scope of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which provided legal protection for tech companies from the consequences of users’ posts. The NMA seeks…

The origin of the coronavirus is still being debated, but Twitter has responded to one skeptic outlet by censoring it. The ZeroHedge founder reportedly, under the pseudonym Tyler Durden, asked “Is This The Man Behind The Global Coronavirus Pandemic?” and theorized about the coronavirus’s true origins. 

In a country where the squeaky wheel gets the grease, the Democratic Party may be getting led astray by a small but vocal minority on social media. A Pew Research Center study released Feb. 3 found that “The political views and primary candidate preferences of Democrats on Twitter differ from those who are not on the platform.” The report released some dire numbers, including how “The 29% of…

Instagram announced in May of 2019 that it would be fact-checking and “reducing distribution” for what it considered to be “disinformation.” Since then, it seems to be targeting pro-life content. Brazilian third-party fact-checker Aos Fatos reviewed and labeled a story from pro-life news organization LifeNews as “Falso” on Feb. 14. Instagram, a sister company to Facebook, took the rating (which…

Twitter defines “sensitive content” as something that might contain “violence or nudity.” So why did a photo of a Nascar racer and the president get flagged by the platform as potentially sensitive content? NASCAR star Hailie Deegan posed for a picture with President Trump and first lady Melania Trump at the Daytona 500 on Feb. 16. After she posted it to Twitter, some of her followers noted that…

YouTube, once again, is doing everything it can to stop discussion about the alleged “whistleblower.” YouTube removed a clip of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) of him speaking on the Senate floor, the National Review reported. In the video, Paul asked “why Chief Justice John Roberts had blocked a question of his, which some have speculated contained the name of the Ukraine whistleblower.” In response, he…

The man whose complaints single handedly caused an entire adpocalypse on YouTube has returned to the platform to “flood its airwaves with leftist propaganda.” Carlos Maza is leaving Vox to establish his own channel according to The Verge, where he will “talk about media, propaganda, and socially conscious topics that relate to how people get their news from a progressive perspective.” The New…

How dangerous is a single tech-savvy conservative? Enough to politically divide Silicon Valley itself and get a CEO to rant about the future of “democracy.” Digital Content Next CEO Jason Kint, in an article-filled tweetstorm, ranted about Facebook’s free speech stance on political advertising. He condemned how the social media giant will reportedly make a profit of “$800mil in political ads,”…

Major social media platforms are removing Iranian disinformation and coordinated behavior from their platforms. But Republicans don’t think that’s enough. Four Republican senators wrote a letter to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on Feb. 6 saying that the company needed to halt its services to U.S.-sanctioned Iranian leaders.

The British government may be free from Europe thanks to Brexit, but it appears to be sliding into authoritarianism as it drafts regulations to crack down on freedom of speech. Ofcom, the United Kingdom’s media watchdog, according to Forbes’ Feb. 12 coverage, “is to be given the power to regulate social media companies, holding them to account for harmful content.” The UK has already reportedly…

A wealthy billionaire tech CEO has endorsed the economically irresponsible concept of a universal basic income. Unfortunately for him, its advocate Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang has dropped out of the race. Twitter head Jack Dorsey tweeted after the news of Yang’s departure broke, “Really sad Andrew is dropping out.” The tech giant, who is worth $5 billion according to Forbes,…

Far-left media outlet The Young Turks launched a new project to train a new generation of liberals to dominate local media -- all funded by Big Tech giant YouTube and its owner, Google. Axios announced that the Cenk Uygur-founded progressive digital publisher, The Young Turks, is now receiving funding in “the mid-six figures range” from Google-owned YouTube to launch “TYT Academy.” TYT Academy,…

Amazon has decided to quietly crack down on books it deems offensive. But the company’s enforcement of standards seems lopsided at best. The New York Times reported that third-party booksellers on Amazon have been forbidden from selling copies of books written by David Duke, a former leader of the KKK, and George Lincoln Rockwell, the founder of the American Nazi Party.

Twitter bans accounts for transphobia and won’t allow pro-life organizations to run ads on its platform. But a cartoon encouraging terrorism is apparently allowed to spread.