A coalition of conservative leaders has launched a petition drive urging citizens to ask their state attorneys general to investigate whether or not Big Tech companies such as Twitter, Facebook, Google and YouTube are in violating the state’s consumer protection statute.
The effort is led by Brent Bozell, the founder of the Media Research Center, who points out that the CEOs of Google, Facebook and Twitter “have repeatedly alleged their platforms are neutral forums for political speech and that they support an equal exchange of ideas.”
“The actions by these tech companies, however, prove those claims are patently false,” he charged in a statement Tuesday. “Conservative speech is under attack. Countless conservatives, former President Trump included, have been censored or outright banned on these platforms for simply expressing their beliefs.”
The online form to contact the state AGs is here
“We cannot allow Facebook, Google and Twitter to continue to deceive the public with lies about the political neutrality of their products,” Bozell said. “We’re urging Americans who believe in preserving free speech to contact their state attorney general and request they investigate these companies for their deceptive trade practices.”
A number of conservative leaders have signed a letter to each state AG asking for investigations and laying out the evidence.
It cites Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey telling a congressional committee that his platform’s purpose “is to serve the public conversation,” offering a “free exchange of ideas” in which “all voices can be heard.”
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, meanwhile, said in a 2020 CNBC interview that he didn’t think Facebook “or internet platforms in general should be arbiters of truth.”
“Political speech is one of the most sensitive parts in a democracy, and people should be able to see what politicians say,” he said.
CEO Sundar Pichai has insisted that Google and YouTube are both neutral platforms and that his company is “committed to protecting the quality and integrity of information on our platforms, and supporting our democracy in a non-partisan way.
“Let me be clear: We approach our work without political bias, full stop,” he said. “To do otherwise would be contrary to both our business interests and our mission, which compels us to make information accessible to every type of person, no matter where they live or what they believe.”
But none of those claims don’t hold up in practice, the leaders point out.
Twitter, for example, censored and then permanently banned President Trump while leaving Joe Biden alone.
Google and YouTube have targeted conservative platforms such as The Federalist and PragerU.
Facebook, from March 1, 2020, through Election Day, removed more than 265,000 pieces of content and displayed warnings on 180 million pieces of content related to the presidential election. Facebook, as well as Twitter, also censored the New York Post bombshell exposé on Hunter Biden’s influence peddling and any mention of “Stop the Steal.”
The letter asserts Google and Twitter “are willfully and knowingly misrepresenting the nature of the services they are offering to the public.”
“They claim they are platforms free from political bias, but that is unequivocally not the case.”
Among the signitories are former Wisconsion Gov. Scott Walker of Young America’s Foundation, Joseph Farah and David Kupelian of WND.com, Bill Donohue of the Catholic League, Jim Lakely of the Heartland Institute, Jenny Beth Martin of Tea Party Patriots Action, David N. Bossie of Citizens United, Thomas Spence of Regnery Publishing, Allen West of the Republican Party of Texas, Richard Manning of Americans for Limited Government, Penny Nance of Concerned Women for America, Rob Allman of the Christian Broadcasting Network, Sandy Rios of the American Family Association, John Hinderaker of the Center of the American Experiment, Tim Wildmon of the American Family Association, Ken Blackwell of Constitutional Congress Inc., Seth Dillon of The Babylon Bee, Kristan Hawkins of Students for Life of America, Elaine Donnelly of the Center for Military Readiness, Reagan biographer and presidential historian Craig Shirley and Gary Bauer of American Values
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This article was originally published by the WND News Center.
