A.G. Gancarski
U.S. Senator Rick Scott has castigated in absentia the CEOs of tech giants, and on Wednesday he offered critiques in person.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, perceived by Republicans as gaming the 2020 Election with content dissemination decisions, took fire from Republicans, with Scott among the last speakers in a nearly four-hour hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
“It’s becoming obvious that your companies are unfairly targeting conservatives,” Scott said, by removing ads from conservative groups because they don’t survive “fact checks” dependent on “liberal media groups” such as Politifact.
For Scott, like other Republicans, complaints about de-platforming conservatives came to a head when Facebook and Twitter suppressed distribution of a New York Post article where a former business associate of the Joe Biden family accused the Bidens of cutting backchannel deals with a business linked to the Chinese Communist Party.
The Senator noted the suspension of the New York Post Twitter account, before contrasting that discourse-chilling, with the medium allowing various inflammatory statements, such as Ayatollah Khameini calling for the “elimination of the Zionist regime” and a post from a Chinese government account claiming that there are no internment camps.
“Twitter took no action,” Scott said. “Your companies are threatening free speech,” censoring Republicans, and “giving dictators a free and unfettered platform.”
Scott asked Jack Dorsey why Trump and McConnell got flagged but “dictators” did not.
“We look at the tweets, we review them, and we see if they violate our policy,” Dorsey said. “We do have a global leader policy. We think it’s important that people see what those leaders are saying.”
However, some tweets are “labeled,” Dorsey noted, though he didn’t drill down with specific examples of tweets from anti-American outlets being flagged.
“You block Mitch McConnell and Trump’s tweets … here’s what I don’t get, you guys set up policies you don’t enforce consistently and [there’s] no recourse for the user,” Scott said.
Dorsey noted that algorithms help the companies to make decisions. And with that Scott’s seven minutes were up.
In an interview Wednesday afternoon, Scott called the hearing a “wake up call.”
“My goal is they’ve got to start being consistent. You cannot treat American conservatives different than the Ayatollah in Iran, Maduro, and the Chinese Communist Party.”
Today during the @SenateCommerce hearing I asked @Jack why he feels Twitter should censor conservatives like @realDonaldTrump & @senatemajldr but not dictators like Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah calling for the “elimination” of the Zionist regime: https://t.co/Fdfya9HiWc
— Rick Scott (@SenRickScott) October 28, 2020
4 comments
TED KRUZE
October 28, 2020 at 2:18 pm
Extreme rightwing fascist authoritarians who continually peddle puerile propaganda – like those in eastern Europe and South America who have offered endorsements to Trump – NEED TO BE TARGETED and exposed for what they are – mini-Hitlers or mini-Mussolinis intending to subjugate and rip-off their unfortunate constituencies while exercising unchecked political power!
**** you, Rick, and the extremist rightwing bull******** you rode in with!
Bryan J Smith
October 28, 2020 at 3:33 pm
I’ve voted against Trump, and I’m not a fan of Conservatives, traditionally siding with Liberals. But Liberals are being killed off the last 15 years by Progressives, who believe Soviet-style Socialism is the solution to alleged National Socialism.
Twitter literally banned an entire newspaper over 200 years old, co-founded by an American icon. Not just select articles, the whole paper. Their justification? ‘Hacking.’ But that doesn’t seem to apply to all sorts of other hacks, leaks, etc… when the agenda fits.
Same with how Twitter approaches not just the US, but Israel, compared to Iran and North Korea.
Section 230 was never supposed to allow this. That’s why the every, very cautious head of the US FCC is now taking interest — especially since he has been known for going after Conservative media companies like Sinclair for suppressing journalists.
Nothing justifies suppressing journalism … period. As I said, the last 15 years, I’ve started to fear Progressives more than Conservatives.
I mean, the ‘national security’ argument that has led to reporters being jailed is not something the Conservatives are doing — although Trump going after Assange is joining with the Progressives.
Heck, major Democratic leaders and advocates (journalists not acting with freedom in mind) even argue the ‘foreign influence’ and ‘national security’ arguments should be used by default, even if not true.
That’s Soviet Socialism, not socialism, and as bad as National Socialism the alleged left says is required ‘at all costs.’ This was the dilemma of the Germans in the ’30s too.
Do we side with the National Socialists who blame one religion and the rich, and offer jobs as we’re losing ours, even though they’ve intimidated and killed people?
Or do we side with the Soviet Socialists who blame all religions (although ‘tolerate’ one), and all with any personal property, and offer jobs as we’re losing ours, even though they’ve intimidated and killed even more people than the National Socialists?
It’s sad we only shun National Socialism symbols, and not Soviet Socialist ones, here in the US. The Progressives seem to embrace them, especially as of late … but we’ve raised 2 generations with ‘good values’ that are well aligned.
Meanwhile, ‘Atlas Shrugged’ is considered ‘racist,’ even though the almost demonized left/government characters in the novel are not that far off from the left/government in the US over the last decade.
Sonja Fitch
October 28, 2020 at 5:23 pm
What ya doing Nazi Rick? Showing off for the cameras? You and Gaetz are walking talking showboaters! Do you just draw something out of a hat and spout off? Hush! You left Desantis with a mess! But don’t worry Desantis made things worse! Remember Nazi Rick all those sick folks you killed!
Palmer Tom
October 28, 2020 at 11:12 pm
Twitter isn’t banning conservatives; it is banning liars.
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