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A coalition of Republican congressmen have introduced new legislation to revoke Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) immunity protections from any tech company that removes lawful speech from its platform.
Known as the Stop the Censorship Act of 2020, the bill addresses a longstanding problem with companies like Facebook and Twitter that have chosen to act as both providers and publishers of content, picking and choosing what is allowed to be posted and shared.
The most recent example of this is Big Tech’s systematic removal of the America’s Frontline Doctors “White Coat Summit” event, which has now been banned from every major tech platform and is only now available on “alternative” platforms like Brighteon – be sure to watch it here or below:
For years, Silicon Valley has been steadily ramping up its censorship agenda, and the conservative side of politics, anyway, has taken notice. It is a situation that is obviously and unfairly stacked against those who would dare to contradict the leftist agenda, and it needs to stop.
“Online platforms should not have special immunity to censor competition and lawful political speech,” stated Rep. Paul Gosar, a Republican from Arizona, who introduced the bill.
“The broad and undue immunity for content and user removal granted by Section 230 must be reined in by Congress. We cannot continue to subsidize, deputize, or blackmail Silicon Valley to decide what is or isn’t an allowable conversation. Stop the Censorship Act empowers users and limits Big Tech to the same rights and liabilities as everyone else.”
Don’t let Big Tech continue to steamroll your First Amendment rights!
Rep. Gosar’s introduction of the bill comes after Allum Bokhari of Breitbart News reported that Google has now purged this news outlet, along with many others classified as “alt-news,” from its search engine results. Now, it is next to impossible to pull up any Breitbart content on Google, which makes Google a publisher rather than a provider.
This is an important distinction because, for far too long, Google and the other tech giants have played both sides, maintaining legal immunity as if they are simply content providers, while simultaneously curating their content in favor of the political left, which is publishing.
“Freedom of speech and market competition are two of the strongest pillars of American freedom. But ‘Big Tech’ has shown little regard for either,” added Rep. Jim Banks, one of the bill’s co-sponsors. “Congress must protect the values that make America great.”
If passed, the Stop the Censorship Act of 2020 would set new legal parameters for tech companies, restricting their censorship capacity solely to content that is explicitly “unlawful, or that promotes violence or terrorism.” This, in turn, will incentivize tech platforms to be more transparent in how they censor, as well as abide by their own terms of service, neither of which they are currently doing.
Further, the Stop the Censorship Act of 2020 would ensure that Section 230 protections can no longer be exploited by tech companies to shield themselves from antitrust claims. In other words, it would help to foster greater competition by breaking up these monopolies, ensuring that they treat their users fairly and abide by the First Amendment rather than their own political slants.
“It’s time we put an end to Big Tech’s unlawful censorship by rolling back their broad protections and promoting market competition, which is exactly what the Stop the Censorship Act of 2020 will do,” added Rep. Doug Collins, a Republican from Georgia who is also co-sponsoring the bill.
You can help support this effort to reign in Big Tech’s censorship crusade by reading and sharing other articles about the topic, which are available at Censorship.news.
Sources for this article include: