WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican senators on Tuesday attacked the chief executives of Facebook and Twitter for what they called censorship of President Trump and his allies during the U.S. election while Democrats bemoaned the spread of misinformation on social media.
The CEOs, Jack Dorsey of Twitter and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, defended their content moderation practices at a congressional hearing scheduled after the platforms decided to block stories from the New York Post that made claims about the son of then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
The move incited uproar among Republican lawmakers who have consistently accused the companies of anti-conservative bias.
In his opening remarks, Judiciary Committee chairman Lindsey Graham asked: “What I want to try to find out is if you’re not a newspaper at Twitter or Facebook, then why do you have editorial control over the New York Post?”
He said he did not think articles on Hunter Biden, refuted by the Biden campaign, needed to be flagged or excluded from distribution.
Democrats focused on the spread of misinformation by Trump, a Republican, and his supporters. They pushed the companies to limit the spread of false and misleading content ahead of elections in Georgia, where two Republican incumbent senators, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, are facing run-offs against well-funded Democratic opponents - contests that will likely determine which party controls the Senate.
Zuckerberg and Dorsey admitted the companies have made some mistakes, but mostly defended their policies.
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However, broader problems with their content moderation decisions, especially around violent speech, became evident when Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, asked Facebook’s Zuckerberg if he would commit to taking down the account of former Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon after he suggested the beheading of two senior U.S. officials.
Zuckerberg refused. “Senator, no. That’s not what our policies would suggest that we should do in this case,” he said.
Reuters reported last week that Zuckerberg told an all-staff meeting that Bannon had not violated enough of Facebook’s policies to justify his suspension.
Blumenthal also noted that Alphabet Inc’s Google, which owns YouTube, had been given a “pass” from the hearing, saying that the company was being rewarded for its “timidity” in content moderation.
Zuckerberg and Dorsey also fielded several pointed questions on whether they act as publishers, which the CEOs said they were not.
Upset over the companies’ decision on what to leave on the platform and what to take down, many Republican lawmakers and Trump have threatened to take away protections for internet companies under a federal law called Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The law protects companies from being sued over material users post on their platforms.
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Graham also said he hopes Section 230 is changed.
“When you have companies that have the power of government, have far more power than traditional media outlets, something has to give,” he said. President-elect Biden has also said he favors repealing Section 230. Congressional Democrats, however, prefer a more deliberate approach to reforming the law.
Zuckerberg and Dorsey said they would be open to some reforms to the law.
At an October hearing, Twitter’s Dorsey said eroding Section 230 could significantly hurt how people communicate online. Zuckerberg said he supports changing the law but also said tech platforms were likely to censor more to avoid legal risks if the law is repealed.
Since the thread OP requires a point of discussion and an opinion, here you go:
Do you think that social media platforms/publishers have gone too far in attempting to curate, and therefore manipulate and censor user content? Do you think Republicans have the right idea in attempting to repeal Section 230 and guarantee the free speech of social media users not just in America, but around the world? Do you think the Democrats just want to seize complete control of all mainstream and social media and reinvent them as subservient mouthpieces in order to further entrench their already outsize influence because they are simply unable to tolerate any kind of dissent and are quick to delegitimize and slander their opponents as racists, fascists, and white supremacists instead of opting to "kiss and make up" with Republicans and offer an olive branch of compromise and goodwill rather than slide even further into hatred and far-left, cultural and identitarian, political extremism and division?
Do you think the Democrats, via their de facto mouthpieces Facebook and Twitter as well as MSM networks such as CNN and MSNBC attempted to rig the pre-election campaign season in Joe Biden's favor by blocking an NYP article from being shared? Do you think former Bill Clinton advisor and open Democrat George Stephanopoulos should be the chief anchor of ABC News, another Democrat mouthpiece? Do you think the Left is totally obsessed with using social and mainstream media to impose its woke supremacist, far-left imperialist agenda in every country in the world while pretending to stand for press freedom only when they can use it as a political cudgel to bash Trump and Republicans? Do you think their unanimous take-down of NYP makes them total hypocrites who don't actually care about press freedom at all?
Do you think conservative, centrist, and other independent, non-mainstream, political YouTube channels such as China Uncensored and America Uncovered are being arbitrarily shadowbanned, delisted from search suggestions, and demonetized for both monetary and political reasons, forcing them to rely on Patreon, SubscribeStar, and other payment methods to remain afloat? Do you believe this subtle and underhanded attempt to manipulate the political narrative in the Democrats' favor is incredibly self-serving, fundamentally dishonest, and bad for democracy in the long run?
Do you think the Democrats are totally out of control and seem to have lost it completely? Do you that the Democrats must be prevented from implementing their woke, anti-liberal, anti-democratic, anti-Western, authoritarian, anti-free speech policies at all costs? Do you think Republicans absolutely must win the Georgia Senate runoffs on Jan. 5 and put a wrench in the Democrats' plans to curb freedom of speech both online and offline and roll back liberal democracy? Do you think Donald Trump should have won the 2020 Presidential election in a landslide (regardless of whether you believe said election has been "rigged", which I don't believe it has)?
Do you think the Democrats, via their de facto mouthpieces Facebook and Twitter as well as MSM networks such as CNN and MSNBC attempted to rig the pre-election campaign season in Joe Biden's favor by blocking an NYP article from being shared? Do you think former Bill Clinton advisor and open Democrat George Stephanopoulos should be the chief anchor of ABC News, another Democrat mouthpiece? Do you think the Left is totally obsessed with using social and mainstream media to impose its woke supremacist, far-left imperialist agenda in every country in the world while pretending to stand for press freedom only when they can use it as a political cudgel to bash Trump and Republicans? Do you think their unanimous take-down of NYP makes them total hypocrites who don't actually care about press freedom at all?
Do you think conservative, centrist, and other independent, non-mainstream, political YouTube channels such as China Uncensored and America Uncovered are being arbitrarily shadowbanned, delisted from search suggestions, and demonetized for both monetary and political reasons, forcing them to rely on Patreon, SubscribeStar, and other payment methods to remain afloat? Do you believe this subtle and underhanded attempt to manipulate the political narrative in the Democrats' favor is incredibly self-serving, fundamentally dishonest, and bad for democracy in the long run?
Do you think the Democrats are totally out of control and seem to have lost it completely? Do you that the Democrats must be prevented from implementing their woke, anti-liberal, anti-democratic, anti-Western, authoritarian, anti-free speech policies at all costs? Do you think Republicans absolutely must win the Georgia Senate runoffs on Jan. 5 and put a wrench in the Democrats' plans to curb freedom of speech both online and offline and roll back liberal democracy? Do you think Donald Trump should have won the 2020 Presidential election in a landslide (regardless of whether you believe said election has been "rigged", which I don't believe it has)?
Yes to all of the above. Freedom of expression is an issue that's very close to my heart, especially if it occurs online. The thought of anyone having their account suspended or even deleted simply for tweeting, for instance, All Lives Matter, or Islam is not a religion of peace, or f*** communism, or f*** feminism, while MSM outlets pile on the pressure by further defaming and assassinating one's good character by implying that they are, e.g. a racist and a fascist for criticizing Islam or BLM, and spineless, cowardly employers more obsessed with monetary gain and/or political survival fire said individuals due to said pressure and character assassination, thereby sending a clear message to authoritarian regimes around the world that actually arrest and disappear people for this sort of thing, and in some cases, indirectly aiding and abetting said regimes, is a thought that should horrify any decent human being. The internet must remain as free and unrestricted as humanly possible. Social media censorship and MSM acquiescence to the narrow dictates of a far-left, cultural IdPol agenda must be resisted at all costs.
Freedom of speech is at stake here for social media users around the globe. If the Democrats have their way and they win both Senate runoffs in Georgia, then they, Facebook, Twitter, and Google will have free rein to censor, curate, and block user content like the "newspaper publishers" rather than the platforms they seem to think they are. The Republicans must make a stand here and now or we, as internet users, are fucking screwed.
Freedom of speech is at stake here for social media users around the globe. If the Democrats have their way and they win both Senate runoffs in Georgia, then they, Facebook, Twitter, and Google will have free rein to censor, curate, and block user content like the "newspaper publishers" rather than the platforms they seem to think they are. The Republicans must make a stand here and now or we, as internet users, are fucking screwed.
ModEdit: Poll edited as per this Moderator post: viewtopic.php?p=37964897#p37964897
