Free Republic

Should First Amendment rights be extended to Big Tech corporations to publish and censor as they please?  This is a question that has agitated the discussion on whether antitrust legislation should be applied to infogiants such as Google, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Amazon, Pinterest and many others that have cornered the market on a public resource, information, and an essential human activity, the consumption of information. A solution to the problem of data sequestration and restricted access practiced by these companies is to rebadge them either as publishers or, alternatively, as public utilities. These entities are protected by Section...

Here’s a simple question: Suppose you hire a company to perform a service for you, because a trusted friend recommended them and, even though they’re not the cheapest option, you are assured that they are the best. Then, one day, you discover that the reason your friend recommended the company is because they bribed him to do so. The company misrepresented their prices to you, and are actually charging you more than they would charge other clients in your position. So much so, in fact, that you take them to court for fraud.Undeterred, this same company then turns around and...

Democrat presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren has positioned herself as a critic of Silicon Valley and even criticized tech censorship in the recent past — but now she’s reversed her stance, calling for more policing of lawful speech by the unaccountable Masters of the Universe in Silicon Valley. In March, Warren called out Facebook for its “ability to shut down a debate.” The context was Facebook’s decision to temporarily take down several of her posts that called for the breakup of the tech giant.

Facebook released an update of its so-called “civil rights” audit June 30. The results did not bode well for conservatives, as the company committed to work with left-wing groups in every facet of its business. The audit announced a “Civil Rights Task Force,” led by COO Sheryl Sandberg, which will rely on third-party “civil rights expertise” to make decisions. The task force will address all key departments of the business from content and partnerships to human resources. It will exist to “ensure civil rights concerns raised by outside groups are escalated promptly to decision-makers so that they can be considered...

Tuesday on Fox News Channel’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” psychologist Dr. Robert Epstein explained how a recently released Project Veritas undercover video, which shows Google executive Jen Gennai proclaiming the tech giant she works for is determined to prevent the re-election of Donald Trump, verified what he has concluded from his research. Epstein, a senior research psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology, told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson it confirmed that Google could influence votes and is willing to do so. “I’m not surprised in the least,” Epstein said. “It confirms in glowing terms, or in very ugly...

A new bill in the U.S. Senate could cause the internet as we know it to cease to exist by holding major tech companies like Facebook or YouTube liable for anything posted on their platforms. On Wednesday, Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) introduced controversial legislation that would amend Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA). Known as the Ending Support for Internet Censorship Act, it has caused bipartisan backlash on how it would affect tech companies, content creators, and everyday users. Tech companies like Twitter or YouTube currently have protection under Section 230 against being held liable for what users...

Twitter Begins Censoring Trump's Tweets Twitter announced on Thursday that it would censor President Trump's tweets going into the 2020 election ...

SHANGHAI — United States chip makers are still selling millions of dollars of products to Huawei despite a Trump administration ban on the sale of American technology to the Chinese telecommunications giant, according to four people with knowledge of the sales. Industry leaders including Intel and Micron have found ways to avoid labeling goods as American-made, said the people, who spoke on the condition they not be named because they were not authorized to disclose the sales. Goods produced by American companies overseas are not always considered American-made. The components began to flow to Huawei about three weeks ago, the...

Republican Senator Josh Hawley has introduced a bill aimed at stopping censorship on social media platforms based on political ideologies. The ‘Ending Support for Internet Censorship Act‘ seeks to remove protections granted by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act if platforms are not acting neutral in regards to political views. Currently, platforms cannot be held responsible for user-posted content, as they are not considered publishers. As these companies become more political — and take an editorial stance, many have called for these protections to be stripped.

Here’s A Proposal To Hurt Big Tech When It Censors Conservative Users https://dailycaller.com/2019/06/17/sears-big-tech/

People come to Pinterest for all kinds of things. But apparently, there's one thing users won't find on the app -- and that's tolerance. It was supposed to be a harmless site, a place for swapping recipes and planning kitchen remodels. Now we know: even the most innocuous platforms aren't immune from Big Tech's censorship. And if that's the case, conservatives are in trouble. Because the problem just got a whole lot worse than we thought. Eric Cochran was an employee of Pinterest, a software engineer. Like a lot of conservatives in the online world, he kept his views to...

This week, The New York Times ran a massive piece detailing the supposed radicalization of one Caleb Cain. Cain moved from political liberalism toward self-ascribed “tradcon” status from watching YouTube videos. The New York Times charted this nefarious move by following those videos. The suggestion by the Times was simple: If you watch typical conservative content hosted by people like me, you will eventually end up watching material hosted by alt-right figures. The only solution, presumably, would be for YouTube to downgrade material the Times dislikes. This attitude isn’t only springing from the Times. Axios chief technology correspondent Ina Fried...

This week, The New York Times ran a massive piece detailing the supposed radicalization of one Caleb Cain. Cain moved from political liberalism toward self-ascribed "tradcon" status from watching YouTube videos. The New York Times charted this nefarious move by following those videos. The suggestion by The Times was simple: If you watch typical conservative content hosted by people like me, you will eventually end up watching material hosted by alt-right figures. The only solution, presumably, would be for YouTube to downgrade material The Times dislikes. This attitude isn't only springing from The Times. Axios chief technology correspondent Ina Fried...

It’s good to know that our public debate on abortion and human life is being regulated by the experts at a social media network known best for meme-posting. The pro-life group Live Action found itself blocked from Pinterest this morning, supposedly for purveying “misinformation” about abortion. The group and its executive director, Lila Rose, announced that the platform had confirmed its decision to bar Live Action:

SalesForce, a customer relationship management (CRM) technology company designed to help with commerce, recently updated their acceptable-use policy. The policy change essentially tells firearms manufacturers and gun store retailers that they're no longer allowed to utilize the service to collect payments because of products and goods that they sell. Specifically, they don't want their product being used for transactions involving "high capacity" magazines, unfinished lowers and firearms with a thumbhole or folding stock.

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren was one of the earlier 2020 candidates to propose breaking up the largest tech companies and potentially having the government regulate them like utilities. It’s a mantra she’s repeated on the campaign trail on a regular basis. But now she’s doubling down on the message with a campaign tactic that may not make the most sense. Her team has put up a massive billboard on the subject, which isn’t all that unusual for a political campaign. It’s the location that makes it peculiar. She put it up right in Silicon Valley near many of the Big...

The “conservative” response to Big Tech censorship has largely been relegated to two thought-terminating lanes: “President Trump, just FIX IT already!” or “That’s capitalism, baby!” Both real legal constraints and political considerations — imposed on President Trump by allies who are understandably reluctant to embrace the most aggressive executive branch solutions — limit his maneuverability. Meanwhile, “free market” absolutists refuse to acknowledge the powerful forces at work that deny free speech-focused social media competitors access to a level playing field, as can be seen with even a cursory look at Gab.com’s struggle: The biggest danger we face is that we yet again retreat to...

Eleven Americans explain how Big Tech’s cheap foreign labor cost them their livelihoods.

The US Census Bureau has asked tech giants Google, Facebook and Twitter to help it fend off “fake news” campaigns it fears could disrupt the upcoming 2020 count, according to Census officials and multiple sources briefed on the matter. The push, the details of which have not been previously reported, follows warnings from data and cybersecurity experts dating back to 2016 that right-wing groups and foreign actors may borrow the “fake news” playbook from the last presidential election to dissuade immigrants from participating in the decennial count, the officials and sources told Reuters.

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry told Breitbart News that attorneys general across America — both Democrat and Republican — are considering “all actions,” including the use of existing antitrust law, to curb the growing power held by technology firms such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter. Landry offered his remarks in a Tuesday interview on SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily with host Alex Marlow. “We have seen a tremendous amount of consolidation in regard to social platforms and the tech industry over the last decade, and the result of that has become a handful of companies that have amassed a tremendous amount...