Free Speech

Another member of the intellectual dark web has jumped into the world of tech development to circumvent censorship. Dave Rubin, host of the popular podcast and YouTube show The Rubin Report, announced on September 3 that he was launching a beta for his new tech company. In addition, it was also announced Tuesday that his show would be joining The Blaze TV.

The left is trying to steer Facebook into doing more censorship. Sen. Ron Wyden, (D-OR) proclaimed that Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg should face dire consequences for how he has chosen to run the platform. However, he also calls for more censorship of the internet as a whole. 

Democrat presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke’s campaign would like to stop all fake news … except for the disinformation that Beto himself brings to the table. The campaign got angry after a rumor was spread on the internet that the Odessa shooter supported O’Rourke Campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon (a 2012 deputy campaign manager for President Barack Obama) tweeted that the campaign was “…

Censorship is in direct opposition to the ideal of free speech and  the First Amendment. However, it seems to be a priority for those who espouse a liberal ideology, as shown by a new study from Marietta College. The research found that liberals were more likely to censor a statement if it disagreed with their values than moderates and conservatives. Liberals were more interested in censoring…

YouTube deplatformed tens of thousands of videos for being “hateful,” then defended its actions as “responsibility.” The blog post said the company balances the dual goals of that being “preserving free expression, while also protecting and promoting a vibrant community.” “Openness comes with its challenges,” the blog explained, adding that is “why we also have Community Guidelines that we update…

After discovering Instagram’s plan to “hide the public like counts of photos,” reverse engineer Jane Manchun Wong observed that Facebook may follow suit. In her September 2, blog, she made clear that she works at neither Big Tech company, but has merely discovered these experiments by “reverse-engineering the app and playing with the code underneath.”

Facebook chose a side in the abortion debate and is actively working to suppress pro-life content. Live Action, a pro-life nonprofit organization run by activist Lila Rose, was notified August 30 that two of the company’s videos were marked as “false” by fact-checkers.

Big Tech is being summoned by the Federal Election Commission to answer what it is doing to stop digital misinformation before the 2020 elections. FEC Chairwoman Ellen Weintraub sent out personal invitations to the heads of Facebook, Google, and Twitter on August 30.

YouTube has been giving mixed messages about whether it is an open platform or not. The day after deplatforming multiple right-wing accounts, YouTube released a creator blog titled ”Preserving openness through responsibility.” It proclaimed itself  an open platform for diverse, even controversial, ideas. The next day, YouTube mysteriously reinstated some of these deplatformed channels, while…

When is the best time to pretend to be a neutral and open platform? Probably not after banning several accounts for content. YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki released a creator blog ”Preserving openness through responsibility” Tuesday August 27. She declared her commitment to the video sharing website being an “open” platform while also proclaiming a commitment to liberal values.

A small change made to the company’s slogan could open the door for Facebook to make even more money from the social media network. Previously, according to USA Today, the slogan on the front page of Facebook was “It’s free and it always will be.”

Facebook is having a hard time with transparency, even after paying for researchers to look at its data … with transparency. Philanthropies that agreed to fund studies about Facebook are even threatening to quit. Facebook had promised to make certain sets of data available to researchers working for the organizations, which included the Koch Foundation and Omidyar Network.

Forget education. Now academics are mad that free speech YouTubers are turning students against liberal brainwashing. The Verge wrote on August 21, “As misinformation and hate continues to radicalize young people online, teachers are also grappling with helping their students unlearn incorrect, dangerous information.” The professors and The Verge blamed YouTubers like Canadian Academic Jordan B.…

One conservative media outlet’s battle over free speech can shake up the country’s future. On Tuesday August 27, PragerU held a press conference after their hearing at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals during the saga of their lawsuit against Google/Youtube. Prager is a popular conservative media outlet known for its academic but easy to understand videos which explain conservative ideas.