If you are an American patriot committed to sharing the truth based on credible sources and careful study, you have most certainly been censored, shadowbanned, canceled, or suspended by social media platforms.
Many social media influencers use their suppression as a badge of honor, using it to confirm that their messaging was accurate and to establish themselves as certified truth-tellers.
It is a very dangerous predicament when those who are working hard researching and studying a specific matter, in order to add value with facts, have their comment, article, or video restricted or censored for not following the accepted narrative.
Maria Ressa, Noble Prize–winning journalist, made an invaluable comment about censoring facts when she said, “Without facts, you can’t have truth. Without truth, you can’t have trust. Without trust, we have no shared reality, no democracy, and it becomes impossible to deal with our world’s existential problems.”
In conjunction with that point, Congressman Gosar of Arizona (R-9) articulately stated the following when he reintroduced H.R. 908, the Stop the Censorship Act, legislation reforming Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 to end Big Tech’s broad ability to censor Americans:
Big Tech, including social media giant Meta, were caught colluding with the Biden Regime to censor free speech involving explosive information about Hunter Biden’s laptop and content related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, under current law, they are not held liable for restricting free speech online. Countless other examples exist of the government and Big Tech silencing the American people who dare disagree with them all the while promoting propaganda to advance their liberal and woke political causes. The government cannot censor lawful speech even if done indirectly. This is an illegal deprivation of civil rights.
Free speech is a bedrock of the United States, but the overwhelmingly left-leaning Big Tech companies have taken that right away from Americans by silencing online speech they disagree with.
Section 230 contains two key subsections that govern user-generated posts on social media platforms. The first, Section 230(c)(1), protects platforms from legal liability relating to harmful content posted on their sites by third parties. The second, Section 230(c)(2), allows platforms to police and remove posts without facing civil liability and protects them from liability if they choose not to.
These protections prevent social media platforms from being sued for content posted by others and allows them to manage their sites by removing material they may find objectionable. Because of these protections, social media platforms are able to regulate speech, giving them extreme power and influence.
This is especially concerning considering that many believe we are in a war today, a war using Fifth Generation Warfare. In Fifth Generation Warfare, the weapons are not bombs or bullets, but data and information.
For these reasons, many believe Section 230 should be repealed and rewritten.
As a candidate, Joe Biden told the New York Times that Section 230 should be “revoked, immediately.” Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has said, “Section 230 as it exists today has got to give.”
In an interview with NPR, the former congressmen Christopher Cox (R-Calif.), a co-author of Section 230, has called for rewriting it, because “the original purpose of this law was to help clean up the internet, not to facilitate people doing bad things.”
It appears the desire to repeal and rewrite Section 230 is widespread and bipartisan. It would certainly help increase the sharing of truth and add transparency. Even so, a quarter-century later, Section 230 has not been addressed.
The brilliant Victor Davis Hanson was right when he said truth and transparency are the fuel for a civilized society. With truth and transparency under attack, partially by the inaction on Section 230, is it any wonder our society is becoming less civil?
Imagine if we came together as Americans and in unity with our elected officials took the action needed to repeal and rewrite Section 230. In doing so, we would ensure that truth and transparency prevail and that civility abounds.
Image via Public Domain Pictures.