(This post may contain disputed claims. We make no assertions as to the validity of the information presented by our Opinion Columnist. We are an opinion blog, not a traditional news outlet, and this post should be treated as such. Enjoy.)Senator Ted Cruz brought the heat when he questioned Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on Tuesday. During the live senate hearing on censorship, the Texas senator annihilated Dorsey and his company’s policies of “putting warnings on virtually any statement about voter fraud.” You don’t want to miss this.
Social media giants Facebook and Twitter have a huge potential problem. Under section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, “online intermediaries that host or republish speech are protected against a range of laws that might otherwise be used to hold them legally responsible for what others say and do.”
However, they allegedly breach section 230 when they act as a publisher, instead of acting as a neutral platform.
These social media giants could arguably be relinquishing their legal protections under section 230 if it is proven they are indeed acting as a publisher by censoring content and putting out “warnings.”
One of many examples on Twitter is this tweet by President Donald Trump: “The rate of rejected Mail-In Ballots is 30 X’s lower in Pennsylvania this year than it was in 2016. This is why they kept our poll watchers and observers out of the ‘SACRED’ vote-counting rooms!”
You can see the Twitter “warning” that says: “This claim about election fraud is disputed.”
The rate of rejected Mail-In Ballots is 30 X’s lower in Pennsylvania this year than it was in 2016. This is why they kept our poll watchers and observers out of the “SACRED” vote counting rooms!https://t.co/QPlzfimbd4
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 16, 2020
Which brings us to Senator Ted Cruz and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. Cruz blew Dorsey away by exposing the policies that allegedly make him a publisher.
“Are you an expert in voter fraud?” Cruz asked.
“No, I’m not,” Dorsey answered.
“Well, why then is Twitter right now putting reported warnings on virtually any statement about voter fraud?” Cruz replied.
“We’re simply linking to a broader conversation so people have more information,” Dorsey claimed.
“No, you’re not,” Cruz interjected. “You put up a page that says quote ‘voter fraud of any kind is exceedingly rare in the United States.’ That’s not linking to a broader conversation in the United States. That’s taking a disputed policy position, and you’re a publisher when you are doing that.”
“You’re entitled to take a policy position, but you don’t get to pretend you’re not a publisher and get a special benefit under 230 as a result,” Cruz declared.
Senator Lindsey Graham began the hearing by exposing Twitter’s censorship of the Joe and Hunter Biden corruption story in the New York Post.
“The editorial decision by the New York Post to run the story was overridden by Twitter and Facebook in different fashions to prevent its dissemination. Now if that’s not making an editorial decision, I don’t know what would be,” Sen. Lindsey Graham said.
“This resulted in us blocking people from sharing the New York Post‘s article, publicly or privately,” Dorsey said. “We made a quick interpretation, made on no other evidence, that the materials in the article were obtained through hacking. And according to our policy, we blocked them from being spread. Upon further consideration, we admitted this action was wrong and corrected it within 24 hours.”
Dorsey said unequivocally that the platform was wrong to censor the Post‘s stories in the first place, and wrong again when they demanded the Post delete their stories.
Dorsey claimed he now knows they should have let the stories stand without interference.
“The changes we made illustrates the rationale behind our actions,” Dorsey said. “And demonstrates our ability to take feedback, admit mistakes, and make changes all transparently to the public. We acknowledge that there are still concerns over how we moderate content, and our use of Section 230.”
Former Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell also got a warning label for posting: “Nevada Democrat Party is full panic mode. Clark County throws out an entire race because of fraud. The entire County’s ballots are now suspect – and the Democrat Party is freaking out.”
Nevada Democrat Party is full panic mode.
Clark County throws out an entire race because of fraud.
The entire County’s ballots are now suspect – and the Democrat Party is freaking out. https://t.co/QM0YpuANsQ
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) November 17, 2020
Dorsey is just playing this game where he claims he was wrong but has learned from his mistakes. No one believes that. If that were true, Twitter would stop censoring posts that mention “voter fraud.”
He would stop censorship, period.
In fact, if a Twitter user attempts to retweet one of those posts with the warning, they are prompted to click on a link that takes you to an article titled: “Voter fraud of any kind is exceedingly rare in the US, election experts confirm.”
“Experts and officials said there has been no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 US elections. The election process was secure and voter fraud of any type is incredibly rare, according to The Associated Press and Reuters,” it reads.
Senator Cruz is threatening Jack Dorsey. “You don’t get to pretend you’re not a publisher and get a special benefit under 230 as a result,” Cruz said.
This is the crux of this entire issue. It’s high time Congress takes action to take away Facebook and Twitter’s protections under section 230 which would open them up to damning lawsuits by patriotic Americans who have been damaged for years by their censorship.
