Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) sent a letter to Facebook and Google on Friday, demanding to know their policies on censoring free speech before the pivotal 2024 presidential election.
Schmitt wrote to Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, expressing concern about the “increasing attacks on free speech facilitated” by Meta and Google:
This is alarming because the freedom to speak your mind in the public square–or in the virtual public square–is vital to the health of our republic. Far too many Americans are being told what they can say because of censorship facilitated by your companies. While the powerful have often censored the weak for centuries, in America, we recognize and protect the natural right of all people to speak freely, especially when that speech is unpopular. The protection of inalienable rights, such as the freedom of speech, is the cornerstone of our Constitution and vital for this great experiment to flourish. The First Amendment must never be abrogated. [Emphasis added]
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The Missouri senator, who previously served as attorney general, noted how big tech platforms suppressed free speech during the 2020 presidential election with the help of the Biden-Harris administration:
The suppression of free speech in ways was evident during the 2020 election. The Biden campaign, colluding with your organizations, enacted a coordinated campaign to suppress the free speech of millions of Americans. Since 2020, President Biden, his campaign, and his Administration repeatedly attacked your companies and threatened to revoke Section 230 protections if your companies did not conspire to censor speech opposed to their agenda. As we approach the 2024 election, it is imperative that this pattern of censorship does not repeat because free and open discourse is essential for a fair and democratic election process.
…
In the lawsuit I filed as the Attorney General of Missouri, Missouri v. Biden, I highlighted how government officials, including President Biden and White House officials, coerced and colluded with social media companies to censor speech under the guise of combatting, “disinformation” and “misinformation.” I will provide a few examples to show how this shady collusion resulted in the censorship of truthful information. This “censorship industrial complex”—that a federal judge called an Orwellian Ministry of Truth—suppressed truthful information on mask efficacy, the COVID-19 lab leak theory, and the Hunter Biden laptop story. [Emphasis added]
Schmitt noted that Google recently censored information about the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. He continued:
In 2019, Mr. Zuckerberg, you, ironically, gave a speech about protecting free expression to Georgetown University. Throughout the speech, you harped that the ability to speak freely is vital for democracies and that “[you] don’t think it’s right for a private company to censor politicians or the news in a democracy.” However, your company has done just that. And, it continues to suppress speech. Following the assassination attempt against former President Trump, Facebook “wrongly censored the Trump ‘assassinated assassination photo.’” This suppression at your company must end, Mr. Zuckerberg.
Similarly, Mr. Pichai, one of your subsidiaries, YouTube, claims to be a platform for free expression but has consistently removed speech it disagrees with or deems “misinformation.” Another one of your subsidiaries, Google, has been found to also have suppressed and censored information regarding the assassination attempt against former President Trump. A spokesperson of Google stated that the company did not take any actions on its search engine that omitted the reference “Trump assassination attempt.” Yet, users were censored from being able to access information regarding this event on your search engine. This suppression must end.
Now, Schmitt demands Pichai and Zuckerberg answer the following questions:
1. What are your current policies and practices regarding content moderation, specifically in relation to political speech?
2. What is your response to the claims that your platforms were used to suppress free speech during the 2020 election?
3. Can you provide specific examples of how your company has handled cases of alleged censorship?
4. How do you respond to allegations that your platforms colluded with government officials to censor certain types of speech?
5. What measures are in place to prevent undue influence from government entities on your content moderation policies?
6. What steps are you taking to increase transparency around your content moderation decisions?
7. How do you plan to safeguard free speech on your platforms as we approach the 2024 election?
8. What changes, if any, are you considering to address the concerns raised about the suppression of free speech?
9. Why did your company suppress information related to the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump?
“As an elected official of Missouri, I will fight for Missourians’ and Americans’ individual freedoms against the threats to free speech from both the Biden Administration and your companies,” Schmitt added.
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.