It’s about time: Legislation proposed to force Facebook and Twitter to stop censoring conservatives
by: Jayson Veley
NaturalNews.com
Tuesday, December 26, 2017
In an ideal world, the First Amendment of the United States Constitution would be enough to stop all lawmakers and Internet-based corporations from actively looking for ways to censor those with whom they disagree politically. Sadly, however, the Constitution gets about as much attention as a rock on the side of the road, so conservatives are now forced to find other ways to preserve freedom of speech.
One of these conservatives looking to combat political censorship on the Internet is Paul Nehlen, who is currently challenging House Speaker Paul Ryan for his seat in the GOP primary. Nehlen has proposed “Shall Not Censor” legislation, which would essentially prohibit companies like Google and Facebook from censoring Americans’ lawful right to free speech on the Internet.
“We need a federal law prohibiting censorship of lawful speech on major social media platforms,” Nehlen has stated. “It is well-known that Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube discriminate against the right-wing, as evidenced by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s recent comments. While widely heralded for those comments, they rang hollow with no suggested solution. This law is that solution. It will extend Americans’ First Amendment free speech protections onto social media platforms.”
For the purpose of the proposed legislation, Nehlen has been very clear about what he means when he uses the word “censorship.” The term includes the denial of users to access the platform, “shadowbanning,” the “issuance of ‘verified’ status based on any factors unrelated to identity authentication,” demonization, modifying certain algorithms in a way that censors users with particular viewpoints, “embargoing content,” and “throttling accounts and/or content without disclosure.”
If freedom of speech as outlined in the First Amendment was actually respected and followed, then perhaps Nehlen’s proposed “Shall Not Censor” legislation would not be necessary. Internet-based companies would recognize that while they may have the ability to censor people on the other side of the political spectrum, they would ultimately accept the fact that the Constitution prevents them from doing so. Unfortunately, and as previously mentioned, the Constitution is often not followed and not respected, and therefore, Nehlen’s proposed legislation is absolutely necessary.
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