Censorship

Following a report from Gizmodo, left-wing news site Vice News has accused Twitter of “shadow banning” right-wing personalities, politicians, and political pundits. In a piece, Vice proclaimed in the headline, “Twitter is ‘shadow banning’ prominent Republicans like the RNC chair and Trump Jr.’s spokesman.” According to the report, searches for Republican Party chair Ronna McDaniel, Rep. Mark…

Facebook admitted it made a “mistake” when it rejected the pro-gun advertisement posted by a Republican running for agricultural commissioner in Florida. State Rep. Matt Caldwell’s 15-second advertisement features him skeet shooting and saying, “I like guns. I love the Second Amendment. And I support our president. That’s why I’m endorsed by the NRA.”

Starting in August, anyone with access to a 3D printer can yet again download the blueprints to print their own firearms at home. In response, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America launched an online campaign to “#StopDownloadableGuns.”

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey responded to criticism of the site and suggested that the company might be able to “determine credible voices per topic in real-time.” Dorsey was answering complaints from New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman who faulted “that everyone is treated as equally expert on various topics.”  

Shortly after Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fl.) brought up violent Facebook threats against Republicans during a congressional hearing, the page vanished from Facebook. Facebook, however, says it is not responsible.  

In a departure from President Trump’s previous attitude towards Silicon Valley, Trump on Thursday tweeted a defense of Google against a fine levied by the European Union.

Following The Daily Caller’s revealing the identity of its founder, the lefty ad-targeting group known as Sleeping Giants took to Twitter to defend itself.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has recently been trying to strike a balance between cracking down on fake news, hoaxes, and hate speech and allowing a diversity of opinions on the site. In a recent interview with Recode, Zuckerberg took one of his strongest approaches in defense of free speech on the platform.  

President Trump’s team appears to be bucking the mainstream media for positive publicity and, instead, is relying on Facebook advertisements. A study shows that from May until June, Trump and his political action committee have reportedly spent approximately $274,000 on Facebook ads.

Liberal news sources appear to have a problem with more than just InfoWars: now they’re going after the Daily Caller. According to The Wall Street Journal, during an off-the-record meeting with Facebook last week, editors from BuzzFeed and HuffPost took offense to even including the Daily Caller in the meeting.

Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, came out swinging at the House Judiciary hearing about censoring conservatives. He criticized Facebook’s eagerness to address Democrat questions about Russian use of the platform, but less so about GOP inquiries.

The controversy over social media censorship of conservatives has not died down, and the House Judiciary Committee is holding a second hearing on the topic.

In a truly ridiculous line of questions during ABC’s This Week on Sunday, fill-in host and White House correspondent Jon Karl badgered National Security Adviser John Bolton about President Trump’s combative relationship with the press and whether it helped Russian President Vladimir Putin crackdown on reporters there.

CNN attempted to test the limits of Facebook’s new campaign against fake news by questioning the presence of InfoWars on its site.