Posted on 07/21/2021 6:19:45 AM PDT by Kaslin
resident Joe Biden wants to suppress speech that discourages Americans from being vaccinated against COVID-19. Because the First Amendment does not allow him to do that, he is asking Facebook and other social media companies to do it for him.
Or at least that's the way White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, who calls the Biden administration's demands for speech restrictions "our asks," describes the situation. But given the federal government's power to make life difficult for Facebook et al., the line between a request and a command is hazy and so is the line between private content moderation and government censorship.
The background to this dispute includes an antitrust lawsuit against Facebook that was dismissed last month but may be refiled by the Federal Trade Commission. It also includes Biden's opposition to a federal law that shields online platforms from liability for content posted by users, which he thinks "should be revoked," a woefully misguided idea that nevertheless has bipartisan support.
Last week, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an advisory calling for a "whole-of-society" effort to combat the "urgent threat to public health" posed by "health misinformation." His recommendations included "appropriate legal and regulatory measures that address health misinformation while protecting user privacy and freedom of expression," which is an oxymoronic formulation, since it is hard to imagine how any such measures could be consistent with the First Amendment.
Biden followed up the threat of government-imposed speech controls by accusing social media companies of "killing people" by allowing the spread of anti-vaccine messages. He modified that charge on Monday, saying platforms such as Facebook are merely accessories to homicide.
"Facebook isn't killing people," Biden told reporters. "These 12 people who are out there giving misinformation -- anyone listening to it is getting hurt by it. It's killing people."
Biden thinks those "12 people" should be banished from social media because they have played an outsized role in promoting anti-vaccine arguments. The White House also wants platforms to move more swiftly against other users who post "misinformation;" automatically ban users whose accounts have been suspended on other platforms; and make anti-vaccine content less conspicuous by changing the algorithms they use to recommend posts.
"We don't take anything down," Psaki emphasized last week. "We don't block anything." Rather, the administration is merely "flagging problematic posts" and suggesting "additional steps" that Facebook et al. should take against "information that is leading to people not taking the vaccine" because "people are dying as a result."
Psaki's assurances are hard to take seriously given the public pressure that the Biden administration is applying, its ability to launch litigation and support legislation that hurts social media companies, as well as its threat of "legal and regulatory measures." If those companies do what the president wants by cracking down on speech he does not like, they will be acting as the government's agents.
This censorship by proxy is especially troubling because the "misinformation" that offends Biden and Murthy is not limited to verifiably false statements about COVID-19 vaccines, such as claims that they cause infertility or alter human DNA. It also includes messages that are accurate but "misleading," which could mean they discourage vaccination by emphasizing small risks, noting that vaccines are not completely effective or raising questions about the methodology of vaccine studies.
Nor is the "misinformation" targeted by the Biden administration confined to speech about vaccines. Murthy is also concerned about messages that might encourage people to "reject public health measures such as masking and physical distancing," which would encompass even good-faith skepticism about the effectiveness of those safeguards.
In fact, the "health misinformation" that Murthy decries includes any statement about COVID-19 that he views as "misleading" in light of the "best available evidence," which is open to interpretation and "can change over time." If the Biden administration expects social media platforms to enforce that hopelessly subjective standard, it is demanding unprecedented regulation of online speech that cannot possibly be reconciled with its avowed respect for freedom of expression.
Someone send Biden the Bill of Rights. And try explaining it to him. Apparently he has a comprehension problem.
“our asks,”
They’re murdering the language, too. :(
Uh, didn’t you get the memo? Pedo joe said none of them are absolute. You know, like the 13th and 19th amendments. They obviously don’t care about no steenkin’ bill of rights or the constitution. Sad dang situation.
They have been perverting most things they come into contact with for Avery long time.
A couple? sites banned the President of U.S.
Does anyone,even on the left, think they care about your
Even more amazing is people on the right still support them?
Fox News,cable tv,apple,facebook,twitter...China?
I know there is a shift away from leftist platforms..but ere there should be a mass exodus..?
Stop funding your own demise.
No, He has an autocratic problem. He also has thousands of his cronies who believe the same thing. They want us, conservatives and Patriots, DEAD.
“Someone send Biden the Bill of Rights. And try explaining it to him. Apparently he has a comprehension problem.”
This is a guy who already said, in regards to infringing on the second amendment, that he’s not “changing the constitution” he’s “enforcing it”. Try to wrap your head around that.
“Folks, this shouldnât be a red or blue issue; itâs an American issue,” Biden said. “Weâre not changing the Constitution; weâre enforcing it”
Doesn’t Dr. Shiva have a case or two about this moving through the courts? (From when he ran for the Senate.)
Obama wanted to put “monitors” in the news rooms but even the NYT balked at that.
But Facebook and others are OK with it.
âFascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power.â â attributed to Benito Mussolini, 1932
What are the names of the 12 people?
I bet their phones are tapped and spyware placed on the computer and cell phones. Dossiers created. All illegal.
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