Will they or won’t they finally regulate Big Tech?
The giants of social media from Twitter, Google/YouTube, and Facebook were hauled in front of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on Wednesday to answer questions about the censorship of the New York Post article about Hunter Biden’s “laptop from Hell.”
Facebook and Twitter were caught limiting the reach of the article, which prompted a Senate inquiry. Ted Cruz came out swinging, calling Twitter “the biggest threat to free and fair elections” facing America today. He also set Jack Dorsey’s overlong beard on fire with this blistering observation about the power of Twitter to police speech in America.
“Mr. Dorsey, who the hell elected you and put you in charge of what the media are allowed to report and what the American people are allowed to hear, and why do you persist in behaving as a Democratic super PAC, silencing the views to the contrary of your political beliefs?” Cruz asked in one of the more heated exchanges of the hearing.
“The New York Post was founded by Alexander Hamilton,” said Cruz. “And your position is that you can sit in Silicon Valley and demand that the media— that you can tell them what stories they can publish and you can tell the American public what stories they can hear, is that right?”
Dorsey denied it all and claimed he didn’t do what we all saw him do. The New York Post is still blocked from posting on Twitter because they refuse to delete the original tweet that got them in trouble in the first place. But why should they delete it? Dorsey admits that blocking it was a mistake. We need more answers.
Dorsey did not come off as credible in any way during the hearing. In fact, while testifying, the New York Post fact-checked him on the spot and found him to be lying.
“Jack Dorsey of Twitter just told Senator Cruz that anyone could now share the NY Post’s bombshell stories on Twitter. Dorsey is lying,” tweeted Abigail Marone, a rapid response official on President Trump’s re-election campaign, linking to a screen recording of the app blocking the post.
“Twitter is STILL blocking the URL for the NY Post story about the Biden’s foreign corruption & China dealings,” Marone wrote in a tweet shared by White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany on her personal account.
Users were not able to share a link to the article on the proposed China business deal up until just hours ago, which last week was corroborated by former Hunter Biden business partner Tony Bobulinski.
“Something went wrong, but don’t fret — let’s give it another shot,” an error message informed Twitter users.
Twitter said of the article: “We can’t complete this request because this link has been identified by Twitter or our partners as being potentially harmful. Visit our Help Center to learn more.”
Sen. Cruz also fact-checked Dorsey, noting that it’s a felony to lie under oath to the Senate:
What @jack told the Senate, under oath, is false. I just tried to tweet the @nypost story alleging Biden’s CCP corruption.
Still blocked.
18 USC 1621 makes it a felony to lie under oath to the Senate. https://t.co/BDHRB8CEzy
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) October 28, 2020
Will Dorsey be held to account for lying under oath like General Flynn and Roger Stone were? I’m not optimistic.
Dorsey’s repeated claims that he is not interested in anyone’s political leanings fall on skeptical ears. We still remember that Dorsey gave ten million dollars to race-baiting “research” that supports and bolsters the Marxist BLM organization’s goals. We know which side he’s on. Pretending that this guy can be the emperor of everyone’s speech in America is a joke.
$10M to Dr. Ibram Kendi and the Center for Antiracist Research at BU. This research will inform and fuel much needed and overdue policy change. I appreciate you Dr. Kendi, and I’m grateful for your work! https://t.co/M2zvIQYeEO
— jack (@jack) August 20, 2020
America works best when we are all allowed free expression of ideas, no matter how abhorrent. There will always be rational voices to drown out the absurd or extreme. But allowing far-left ideologues like Dorsey and Zuckerburg to gag whomever they want, including one of the oldest newspapers in America—days before our election—is insane. Does the Senate plan to do anything about it besides grill these CEOs on Zoom? I’m not optimistic.
TIME’S UP FOR #BigTech🕙: Today @twitter & @facebook must give answers to the @SenateCommerce committee on why they are suppressing free speech & censoring the free press days before Election Day. pic.twitter.com/Bg2zqCVPbz
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) October 28, 2020
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