If you put 10 Republicans and 10 Democrats in a room and asked them to vote on the color of the sky, you’d have a 10-10 disagreement along party lines. But drag in Big Tech’s so-called Masters of the Universe for a congressional hearing and suddenly “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” That’s the type of bipartisan reception the CEOs of Facebook, Google, Twitter, Apple, and Amazon earned for their dastardly efforts to undermine First Amendment free speech, cavorting with China, and monopoly over Internet commerce business.
Florida Rep. Greg Steube hammered the likes of Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai about wide-reaching censorship of a video that shows medical experts known as America’s Frontline Doctors. The groups express their views on social distancing and medication Hydroxychloroquine. Fake news outlets have repeatedly claimed the FDA-approved medication causes harm despite research that indicates it can help with COVID-19 symptoms.
“Mr. Pichai, there are rioting groups that are going unchecked with the posting of what I would contend is very violent video. Yet yesterday a video about doctors discussing Hydroxychloroquine and discussing the not dangers of children returning to school, and when I clicked on the link it was taken down and then I was sent a different link on YouTube and it was taken down. And I just checked again to make sure and it says, ‘this video has been removed for violating YouTube’s community guidelines,’” Rep. Steube reportedly said. “How can doctors giving their opinion on a drug that they think is effective for the treatment of COVID-19 and doctors who think it’s appropriate for children to return back to school violate YouTube’s community guidelines when all these videos of violence are posted to on YouTube?”
Pichai and Zuckerberg stammer and hedge their responses never actually answering questions about silencing free speech. Zuckerberg went as far as to say that his organization looks to CDC guidelines to see if pandemic content matches up. It was a stretch of the truth to onlookers who can plainly see that Zuckerberg, Pichai, and their left-wing organizations believe they decide what is true, false, and is allowable for free-thinking people to hear.
“But it’s free expression of speech and you have these doctors who are giving their opinion as doctors and I don’t understand why YouTube and therefore Google thinks it’s appropriate to silence physicians and their opinion of what can help and cure people with COVID-19,” Rep. Steube reportedly said.
The self-proclaimed Master of the Universe found no allies on the left as Democrats seethed with animosity during the antitrust hearing.
“Many of the practices used by these companies have harmful economic effects. They discourage entrepreneurship, destroy jobs, hike costs, and degrade quality. Simply put, they have too much power,” Rhode Island Rep. Cicilline, chair of the antitrust subcommittee, reportedly said. “Our founders would not bow before a king. Nor should we bow before the emperors of the online economy.”
Although blocking or censoring the likes of Breitbart, Prager U, and the President of the United States has conservatives out for blood, some of the world’s wealthiest individuals are accused of abusing their positions and market reach to threaten, intimidate, and steal from upstart companies.
Zuckerberg was pressured about his acquisition of Instagram with lawmakers questioning alleged threats made against the once upstart company if it didn’t sell. A dark cloud has followed the social media mogul since he settled a lawsuit brought by the Winklevoss brothers that he stole their ConnectU platform idea. Similarly, the world’s wealthiest person, Jeff Bezos, came under fire for reports Amazon mimicked products that entrepreneurs brought to his attention, stifling innovation and small business growth.
It’s abundantly clear the so-called Masters of the Universe didn’t testify before Congress with clean hands. That’s why the Trump Administration is fully prepared to take executive action to end their practices. The White House has already tasked the FCC with reviewing existing laws to end censorship and prevent Big Tech CEOs from stifling fair trade.
