Government Regulation of Speech Will Not Protect Conservatives

Yesterday, the White House launched a landing page (http://wh.gov/techbias) claiming social media platforms “should advance freedom of speech” and asking Americans who believe that their social media accounts were “accounts suspended, banned, or fraudulently reported for unclear ‘violations’ of user policies” should report their stories to President Trump.

CEI Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews said:

“The White House sadly seems to be misinforming the American people about the nature of speech on private platforms and what the First Amendment means. As we have pointed out on numerous occasions, the First Amendment protects us from government imposition on free speech, not the decisions private platforms make about what their terms of service are, who is in violation of those terms, and what the consequences for those violations should be.

“The White House’s website asking Americans to report social media companies for decisions they make about who is allowed to use their services not only misinforms the public, it seems like the first step toward government regulation of decisions that should rightly be left to the private sector. The White House is mistaken if it thinks government involvement in these decisions will lead to protection of conservative speech. In truth, it will create tools the next liberal government could use to eliminate anonymous political dissent from the internet entirely.”

Read more:

• Crews: Facebook’s Call for Regulation Could Lead to Government Censorship
• Crews: Real Sin for Social Media Companies Not ‘Censorship,’ but Getting into Bed with Government
• Murray: Move Slowly and Establish Rules: Facebook’s Call for Regulation

Clyde Wayne Crews

Yesterday, the White House launched a landing page (http://wh.gov/techbias) claiming social media platforms “should advance freedom of speech” and asking Americans who believe that their social media accounts were “accounts suspended, banned, or fraudulently reported for unclear ‘violations’ of user policies” should report their stories to President Trump.