NEW: Democrats Are Pressuring Companies to Censor For Them: a Violation of the First Amendment

Defenders of online censorship claim this is just private companies using their rights to ban who they want. False: so often it’s due to government coercion:https://t.co/B2TQcdRMTb

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) February 3, 2022

The post Democrats are pressuring companies to censor for them appeared first on Liberty Tree.

The US Surgeon General publicly asked big tech companies to censor Joe Rogan’s show. Don’t miss what’s happening here, the government is pressuring big tech companies to censor shows, something it would be unconstitutional for US government to do itself. https://t.co/fDsTFEVKrm

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) January 27, 2022

The post The surgeon general wants to censor Joe Rogan appeared first on Liberty Tree.

FEE’s Hannah Cox writes, “Many of those speaking out against Twitter’s decisions called for the repeal or reform of Section 230, antitrust legislation to ‘break up’ Big Tech, or, on the most extreme end, for social media platforms to be nationalized…

You get a choice on whether or not you want to use these platforms, and if you do then you play by their rules. That part is only a problem for people who believe they are entitled to the fruits of another person’s labor. Suggesting these platforms owe you an account is theoretically the same as arguing that people have a right to healthcare services. You don’t, and the minute you attempt to use the government to compel private actors to give you something is the minute you become an enemy of the free market and free speech…

If Americans are concerned that the government is pressuring Big Tech to censor certain viewpoints, it makes absolutely no sense for them to think giving the government more power over these companies would lead to less censorship.

My latest:https://t.co/8kuLueo91s

— Hannah Cox (@HannahDCox) January 6, 2022

And if Americans are concerned that the government is pressuring these companies to censor certain viewpoints, it makes absolutely no sense for them to think giving the government more power over these companies would lead to less censorship. There’s no logic behind this sentiment.

Make no mistake, the solutions to this problem offered by nationalist types—like Section 230 repeal or antitrust legislation—would only entrench the powers of existing companies and give Democrats—who are pushing for more censorship—exactly what they want.”

Read the entire column.

The post If government is pressuring Big Tech to censor conservatives, more government won’t help appeared first on Liberty Tree.

FEE’s Brad Polumbo writes, “I spoke with Senator Rand Paul, a libertarian-leaning Kentucky Republican, about why this alarming uptick in Big Tech censorship is so concerning—and why the free market, not Big Government, is the best response.

‘I think they have the right as private property owners to ban me, censor me, do whatever they want,’ the senator said. ‘But I don’t agree with it ideologically; I don’t like the idea of associating with small-minded people who are so close-minded that they want to censor what I have to say.’

Everybody on the Right is complaining about #BigTech but nobodys doing anything about it. They just complain, complain, complain. Their next response is oh the government should break up Big Tech or regulate it. I don’t want to do any of that @SenRandPaul
https://t.co/DS6P3HNt8G

— XIMENA (@RepublicanChick) January 5, 2022

Paul explained why the idea of banning ‘misinformation’ is actually antithetical to the scientific method properly understood.

‘We only arrive at the truth through disputation, by hearing [more] voices,’ he said. ‘It’s easy enough to say something is ‘misinformation.’ But really, a lot of things are debatable…’

‘The impulse to censor people’s speech is actually illiberal.’

‘They’re coming to this Platonic idea that, basically, it’s too dangerous to let the rabble know things, we need to protect them from certain ideas that might be unsettling,’ he continued. ‘But that’s not a step forward; I think that’s a couple-thousand-year-old step backwards.”

Read the entire column.

The post Rand Paul: ‘The impulse to censor people’s speech is actually illiberal’ appeared first on Liberty Tree.

The Daily Wire reports, “Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) published an op-ed on Monday, announcing that he is beginning his ‘exodus from Big Tech,’ starting with the ‘worst censor of all, YouTube.’

‘They Just Want My Silence’: @SenRandPaul quits YouTube as his New Year’s Resolution.

My latest for @realDailyWire.https://t.co/39ZGjnBjGq

— Ian Haworth (@ighaworth) January 3, 2022

‘As a libertarian leaning Senator, I think private companies have the right to ban me if they want to, however, those of us who believe that truth comes from disputation and that the marketplace of ideas is a prerequisite for innovation should shun the close-minded censors and take our ideas elsewhere, which is exactly what I’m doing,’ announced Dr. Paul in a press release.”

Read the entire story.

The post ‘They just want my silence’: Why Rand Paul quit YouTube appeared first on Liberty Tree.

Ron Paul tweeted on Thursday:

Very shocked that @YouTube has completely removed the Channel of my Ron Paul Institute: no warning, no strikes, no evidence. Only explanation was “severe or repeated violations of our community guidelines.” Channel is rarely used. The appeal was automatically rejected. Help? pic.twitter.com/CuvGAe1bVf

— Ron Paul (@RonPaul) September 30, 2021

After many, many negative reactions toward this action by YouTube on social media, the channel was reinstated.

Thank you @TeamYouTube We have noted that the Ron Paul Institute YouTube Channel has been reinstated. We appreciate hearing from you. https://t.co/sFpbPPbHZw

— Ron Paul (@RonPaul) September 30, 2021

But why did it happen in the first place? How often does it happen?

And would you have got your channel back so quickly – if at all – if you were not Ron Paul?

The post Why did YouTube remove Ron Paul’s channel? appeared first on Liberty Tree.

The Taliban is on Twitter. Trump isn’t. Big Tech sucks

Enough said.

The Taliban is on Twitter. But President Trump isn’t. ? #BigTechSucks

— Nancy Mace (@NancyMace) August 19, 2021

The post The Taliban is on Twitter. Trump isn’t. Big Tech sucks appeared first on Liberty Tree.

John Stossel: ‘We SHOULD listen to Paul. He got much right about COVID-19’

Fox Business’s John Stossel put together this excellent video package:

Senator @RandPaul is censored—his YouTube channel frozen for a week.

Why?

We SHOULD listen to Paul. He got much right about #Covid19: pic.twitter.com/SnBGHignUK

— John Stossel (@JohnStossel) August 17, 2021

Monolithic social media companies have tried to determine what the truth is concerning COVID-19 and what constitutes proper health policy for a year and a half. My YouTube channel was censored for a week for questioning the government’s mask guidelines, expressing a viewpoint that even Dr. Anthony Fauci once expressed as well.

This is dangerous. Big Tech should not be able to control our public discourse.

Thanks again to John Stossel for highlighting this important issue.

The post John Stossel: ‘We SHOULD listen to Paul. He got much right about COVID-19’ appeared first on Liberty Tree.

Rand Paul after getting suspended by ‘leftwing cretins’ at YouTube: A ‘badge of honor’

Last week, YouTube censored a video posted by Sen. Rand Paul for contradicting government guidelines on masks.

On Tuesday, YouTube removed the video and suspended the senator’s account for seven days, as reported by The Daily Wire (where you can also watch the banned video).

Paul told Liberty Tree that he considered being banned by YouTube a “badge of honor” and scorned the “leftwing cretins at Youtube banning me for seven days for a video that quotes two peer reviewed articles saying cloth masks don’t work.”

Paul said in a video in which he responded to YouTube’s actions, “Censorship by YouTube is very dangerous as it stifles debate and promotes groupthink where the ‘truth’ is defined by people with a political agenda.”

Titled “It Is Time For Unfiltered News,” that video was also removed by YouTube. You can still watch it on Paul’s Rumble channel.

‘I’m Not Sure When YouTube Became An Arm Of The Government’: Rand Paul Slaps Back After YouTube Suspension https://t.co/VPlmjrQSmB pic.twitter.com/X1GJ2YJy3S

— The Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) August 10, 2021

Google said it removed the content because “This video has been removed for violating YouTube’s Community Guidelines.”

Paul said in response, which is no longer on YouTube, “YouTube said the video violated their policy because of my comments on masks, and that they don’t allow videos that contradict government’s guidance on COVID.”

Sen. Paul expressed concern that Big Tech companies are behaving like the government during a press call on Tuesday.

“I’m not sure when YouTube became an arm of the government, and I’m not really sure it’s good for journalism to also be an arm of the government without any repercussions or push back, Paul said.

Paul said that private companies have the right to host content or not as they please, Big Tech’s lack of interest in free speech is concerning.

“As a libertarian-leaning Senator, I think private companies have the right to ban me if they want to, but I think it is really anti-free speech, anti-progress of science, which involves skepticism and argumentation to arrive at the truth,” Paul said.

He continued, “We realize this in our court systems that both sides present facts on either side of a question and complete an adversarial process to reach the truth in each case.”

The senator said such decisions being made by Big Tech companies could also affect the quality of journalism.

“Journalism isn’t far from that and in some ways, the adversarial part of the courtroom is ideally what you would find in journalism, where both sides would present facts, there is a period of argumentation and people figure out the truth for themselves,” Paul explained.

Paul added, “YouTube and Google though, have become an entity so huge that they think they are the arbitrator of truth.”

Sen. Paul also urged seeking other alternative platforms, “I will try to channel my anger, not in breaking these companies up but by publicly expressing my disagreement with them and publicly promoting other channels that offer free speech alternatives.”

The post Rand Paul after getting suspended by ‘leftwing cretins’ at YouTube: A ‘badge of honor’ appeared first on Liberty Tree.