Free Republic

The FCC voted today on a plan that gives the Federal government full control over the Internet. The plan passed by a 3-2 margin. A press release posted immediately after the meeting stated, in part, “Under the new rules, the Commission can investigate possible instances of discrimination of broadband access, work with companies to solve problems, facilitate mediation, and, when necessary, penalize companies for violating the rules. The FCC will review consumer complaints of digital discrimination of access through an improved consumer complaint portal and staff will meet monthly to assess trends in complaint patterns. Finally, the Commission adopted model...

With government contracts and corporate backers, NewsGuard seeks to monetize the work of reshaping the internet. In May 2021, L. Gordon Crovitz, a media executive turned start-up investor, pitched Twitter executives on a powerful censorship tool. In an exchange that came to light in the “Twitter Files” revelations about media censorship, Crovitz, former publisher of the Wall Street Journal, touted his product, NewsGuard, as a “Vaccine Against Misinformation.” His written pitch highlighted a “separate product” — beyond an extension already on the Microsoft Edge browser — “for internal use by content-moderation teams.” Crovitz promised an out-of-the-box tool that would use...

Haley said that when she takes "office, the first thing we have to do ... social media companies, they have to show America their algorithms. Let us see why they're pushing what they're pushing. The second thing is every person on social media should be verified by their name," she said, describing the issue as a "national security threat." "Haley's proposal to ban anonymous speech online — similar to what China recently did — is dangerous and unconstitutional. It will be dead on arrival in my administration," Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is also seeking the GOP presidential nod, tweeted...

Former ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said Tuesday that she favored requiring social media accounts to be verified by a person’s name.Haley clashed with businessman and fellow Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy over social media multiple times, including a testy exchange during Wednesday’s Republican presidential debate after Ramaswamy mentioned that Haley’s daughter used TikTok. Several popular Twitter accounts, including Catturd and LibsofTikTok are or had been anonymous

And so it begins. In fact, it hardly ever stops – another election cycle in well on its way in the US. But what has emerged these last few years, and what continues to crop up the closer the election day gets, is the role of the most influential social platforms/tech companies.Pressure on them is sometimes public, but mostly not, as the Twitter Files have taught us; and it is with this in mind that various announcements about combating “election disinformation” coming from Big Tech should be viewed.Although, one can never discount the possibility that some – say, Microsoft –...

Man, I'm sure glad a Republican isn't leading New York, cuz the media says they'd implement an authoritarian theocracy where Big Brother spies on you for wrongthink on the internet! We're very focused on the data we're collecting from surveillance efforts - what's being said on social media platforms. And we have launched an effort to be able to counter some of the negativity and reach out to people when we see hate speech being spoken about on online platforms. Hochul said this in the context of a wave of antisemitism in the state. New York is home to 2.2...

Former President Donald Trump on Monday tested a gag order imposed on him by a Washington, D.C., judge by saying those prosecuting him in a federal case involving alleged attempts to subvert the 2020 election will end up in a "mental institution" with "Trump Derangement Syndrome." U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan of the District of Columbia on Oct. 29 reimposed the gag order on Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, prohibiting him from publicly criticizing prosecutors and likely witnesses in the case, as well as members of the court's staff. Trump has said the gag order...

What kind of a nation slaps a gag order onto its leading presidential frontrunner in its coming election over his criticism of the court's conflicts of interest?According to normal people, a tinpot regime, which is how a majority of the American public sees it, according to a new Daily Mail/TIPP poll:Americans by wide margins say gag orders imposed by judges against Donald Trump violate the former president's right to free speech, a DailyMail.com/TIPP Poll shows.Fully 56 percent of voters say orders barring Trump from commenting on the cases against him undermine his first-amendment guarantees, our survey reveals.Another 32 percent said...

There has never been a First Amendment in Great Britain, although for a couple hundred years the Common Law was understood to give broad latitude in allowing the expression of opinion. Not so much anymore. Several “Public Order” laws passed since 1986 have increasingly restricted speech to the point now a person can be arrested for offending others, particularly those in protected classes. This has resulted in some shocking cases, such as the arrest of an autistic girl for blurting that a female police officer “looked like her nan,” who is a lesbian. She was separated from her parents after...

President Biden unveiled sweeping plans for domestic and international regulation of artificial intelligence that will consign conservatives to virtual gulags.The executive order on “Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence”, signed by President Biden last week, sets out in detail how federal agencies are to use and regulate artificial intelligence (AI), including promoting global standards to moderate online content.The new tools to silence and cancel conservatives are being created under the rubric of providing “safeguards” against discrimination, bias, and disinformation and promoting “rights-affirming” approaches in digital technologies.

Conservative YouTube star Steven Crowder took a stand against the Deep State by obtaining the Nashville shooter’s manifesto — a document that authorities have kept from the public eye. Now, it’s clear why they wanted it under wraps. The perpetrator, a disturbed, racist and violent young girl masquerading as a boy harbored a vehement desire to harm white people. ABC News 4. Portions of the manifesto belonging to Nashville school shooter Audrey Hale are circulating social media after months of debate regarding its release. Steven Crowder, the host of the Louder with Crowder talk show, shared leaked images from the...

How government tore my reputation apart piece by piece.Fellow Americans, the government will take care of you! They don’t want you to have to worry about information that they don’t approve in your social media accounts. They don’t want you to worry that the US government would directly interfere with your First Amendment rights, and certainly would never meddle in an election or with your medical freedoms. That said, the deep state will gladly “contract those jobs out to creepy left-wing “disinformation”-fighting firms”.A bombshell new report has been published, titled: “WEAPONIZATION OF “DISINFORMATION” PSEUDO-EXPERTS AND BUREAUCRATS: HOW THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT...

A Laramie preacher has won a federal lawsuit against the University of Wyoming (UW). He had sued the university for infringing on his constitutionally protected free speech rights. Last December, Laramie Faith Community Church Elder Todd Schmidt displayed an anti-trans banner in the UW student union, identifying an individual transgender student by name. The university banned him from tabling for one year, alleging that he was harassing the student. Schmidt sued UW on First Amendment grounds. He won a preliminary injunction that has already let him return to the student union. Last week, both parties agreed to a judge's order,...

It seems like hyperbole, but next week, the Federal Communications Commission is set to vote on adopting the Biden administration‘s plan for a sweeping takeover of the entire internet from the ground up. The plan is couched in the language of Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity, (DIE) under the auspices of providing broadband connectivity for the 42 million Americans without access to broadband, but FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr says it equates to little more than a hostile government takeover of the industry. https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-398244A1.pdf According to Carr, The text of the order expressly provides that the FCC would be empowered, for the...

The Department of Homeland Security partnered with Stanford University and other colleges to create a 'disinformation group' to censor speech leading up to the 2020 election, new emails reveal. The Election Integrity Partnership (EIP) was created in July 2020, and consisted of members from the Stanford Internet Observatory, the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public, Graphika, and the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, according to a new report from the House Judiciary Committee and released Monday evening. '[T]he federal government and universities pressured social media companies to censor true information, jokes, and political opinions,' the report said...

Misinformation is a key global threat, but Democrats and Republicans disagree about how to address the problem. In particular, Democrats and Republicans diverge sharply on removing misinformation from social media.Only three weeks after the Biden administration announced the Disinformation Governance Board in April 2022, the effort to develop best practices for countering disinformation was halted because of Republican concerns about its mission. Why do Democrats and Republicans have such different attitudes about content moderation?My colleagues Jennifer Pan and Margaret E. Roberts and I found in a study published in the journal Science Advances that Democrats and Republicans not only disagree...

New emails show officials at the Department of Homeland Security created a Stanford University “disinformation” group that censored Americans’ speech before the 2020 election, according to a House Judiciary Committee report exclusively obtained by The Post.

South Jersey power broker George Norcross was allegedly removed from a Philadelphia Eagles game for displaying an Israeli flag.Video shared to social media appeared to show Norcross sitting in a private box at the Eagle's Lincoln Financial Field in the game against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday with a combined American and Israeli flag draped in front of it.Security approached Norcross, who is a businessman and Democratic Party broker, and attempted to remove the flag, but he tried to stop them. They exchanged words and he was escorted away from his seat. Security then removed the flags.Newsweek contacted the Eagles,...

November 3, 2023 – The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) commented today on the United States Supreme Court accepting National Rifle Association of America v. Maria T. Vullo for review. The decision is a landmark development in one of the most closely watched First Amendment cases in the nation. ​ “This is a historic step forward for free speech, the NRA’s millions of members, and for all who believe in freedom,” says NRA CEO & EVP Wayne LaPierre. “The NRA’s fight for justice continues – this time in the highest court in the land. At a time when free...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court temporarily lifted a gag order on Donald Trump in his 2020 election interference case in Washington on Friday — the latest twist in the legal fight over the restrictions on the former president’s speech. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decision puts a hold on the limited gag order to give the judges time to consider Trump’s request for a longer pause on the restrictions while his appeals play out. The appeals court said the temporary pause “should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits”...