Rantburg

Today's Front Page   View All of Sun 05/19/2024 View Sat 05/18/2024 View Fri 05/17/2024 View Thu 05/16/2024 View Wed 05/15/2024 View Tue 05/14/2024 View Mon 05/13/2024
2022-12-29 Government Corruption
Ten major revelations exposing extent of government pressure on Big Tech to censor Americans
[JustTheNews] From Elon Musk’s "Twitter files" to an FBI
...Formerly one of the world's premier criminal investigation organizations, something for a nation to be proud of. Now it's a political arm of the Deep State oligarchy that is willing to trump up charges, suppress evidence, or take out insurance policies come election time...
agent's candid testimony, Americans have gotten a glimpse into a once-hidden enterprise where federal agencies pressured social media platforms — directly and through proxies — to censor content under their terms of service. The goal, it appears, was to preserve the ruling elite's favored narratives on everything from the pandemic to election integrity.

The exposés have undercut claims that the FBI only targeted foreign disinformation, making clear that everyday opinions of Americans were also in the crosshairs. They also have raised alarm across the political spectrum about the future of free speech in the world's most famous constitutional republic.

"We've entered into this period of American history where the range of permissible thought and speech has so narrowed that if you depart from it at all you are, you're labeled, you are censored, and you are silenced," retired Democrat Sen. Robert Torricelli told Just the News earlier this month. "It's incredibly dangerous."

"And the odd thing about it is the very institutions which have been the safeguard of American free thought and speech — American universities, think tanks, the media — are the worst offenders," he added.

Ex-Democrat Senator: ’Scared to death’ of widespread free speech censorship by US universities, think-tanks, and mediaEx-Democrat Senator: ’Scared to death’ of widespread free speech censorship by US universities, think-tanks, and media

The FBI is defending itself by saying it did not order social media firms to censor content, and instead just suggested posts that the bureau believed violated the platform's services. It called those who question the bureau's censorship activities conspiracy theorists.

"The men and women of the FBI work every day to protect the American public. It is unfortunate that conspiracy theorists and others are feeding the American public misinformation with the sole purpose of attempting to discredit the agency," it said.

George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said he was troubled by the bureau's dismissive response, calling for a new Church Committee like the one empaneled by Congress in the 1970s to investigate the bureau's misdeeds a half century ago,

"After Watergate, there was bipartisan support for reforming the FBI and intelligence agencies. Today, that cacophony of voices has been replaced by crickets, as much of the media imposes another effective blackout on coverage of the Twitter Files," Turley wrote in an op-ed in The Hill newspaper. "This media silence suggests that the FBI found the 'sweet spot' on censorship, supporting the views of the political and media establishment."

The revelations about just how the government impacted debate and targeted opinions for censorship have been accelerating. Just the News assembled 10 of the most important disclosures.
Posted by Skidmark 2022-12-29 00:00|| || Front Page|| [18 views ]  Top

22:39 Nero
22:31 Angealing+B.+Hayes4677
21:51 NoMoreBS
20:52 Airandee
20:48 Procopius2k
20:34 swksvolFF
20:33 Silentbrick
20:32 Silentbrick
20:10 swksvolFF
20:00 Whiskey Mike
19:50 swksvolFF
19:46 swksvolFF
19:39 swksvolFF
19:25 swksvolFF
19:19 swksvolFF
19:04 Ululating Platypus
18:42 M. Murcek
18:35 Mullah Richard OTR
18:16 SteveS
17:50 swksvolFF
17:39 Raj
16:59 M. Murcek
16:57 M. Murcek
16:42 jpal









Paypal:
Google
Search WWW Search rantburg.com