Free Speech

Another academic study about disinformation and election security has been released, this time from New York University. True to form, the research blames all facets of the right as sources of “domestic disinformation.” “Disinformation and the 2020 Election,” written by Paul M. Barrett of the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights, warned of the dangers of “disinformation” during the…

Hundreds of millions of Facebook users’ phone numbers have been exposed online to the public. According to TechCrunch’s September 4 story, a compromised server exposed over 419 million users across multiple countries, “including 133 million records on U.S.-based Facebook users, 18 million records of users in the U.K., and another with more than 50 million records on users in Vietnam.”

Twitter has taken a side in favor of the killing of the unborn. David Daleiden, the undercover journalist for the Center for Medical Progress, reported that the organization had 19 tweets blocked on Twitter, at the advice of Planned Parenthood. Daleiden and Sandra Merritt face 15 felony charges for an invasion of privacy after releasing 14 videos showing the sale of aborted baby parts within…

Both Republicans and Democrats are chomping at the bit to take Big Tech to task over antitrust concerns. The Hill reported on September 3 that Senate Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust will host an upcoming hearing to “explore issues relating to competition in technology markets and the antitrust agencies’ efforts to root out anticompetitive conduct.”

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.