Republican Texas Senator Ted Cruz speaks on Capitol Hill on Oct. 26, 2020.
In a recent interview with Breitbart News, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) criticized technology giants like Google for abusing their online influence and posing a threat to free and fair elections in the United States.
Cruz has been one of the most outspoken critics of online technology giants, citing problems with Google, Twitter and Facebook, particularly the companies’ alleged interference in U.S. elections. He expressed his views to Breitbart News last Saturday morning (Jan. 2).
Cruz said the online tech giants pose the “greatest threat” to free and fair elections in the United States. Asked which online technology giant poses the greatest threat, Cruz replied, “I think there’s no question that Google is the most sinister online company on the planet. The reason Google is the most sinister is because it is by far the largest and by far the most powerful Web company that controls the vast majority of people’s searches for information on the Web.”
Cruz referred to a hearing in 2019 by the Judiciary Committee’s constitutional law panel, of which he is the leader. He invited psychologist Dr. Robert Epstein, Ph.D., to discuss the manipulative power of these online giants. Cruz said Epstein found that “Google influenced more than 2.6 million voters to vote for Democrats during the 2016 election by manipulating search results.”
Cruz added, “And Dr. Epstein is not a Republican. He is a liberal Democrat who voted for Hillary Clinton, but was outraged to see this abuse of online influence. Google is clearly the most threatening.”
Moving on to the next online tech giant, Cruz asserted that “Twitter is the most brazen.”
“We just had a hearing recently where Jack Dorsey, the chief executive of Twitter, came in with a full beard and looked like he’d crawled out from under a bridge,” Cruz said. Cruz said.
At the Nov. 17, 2020 hearing, members of Congress, including Cruz, questioned Twitter CEO Dorsey and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg intensely about their speech censorship and manipulation. They questioned whether the two executives had shielded themselves from talk of election fraud and whether their decision to censor the New York Post’s explosive scandalous story on Hunter Biden before the Nov. 3 election constituted election interference.
I asked Mr. Dorsey in that hearing, ‘Who the hell gave you the authority to censor and control what we read?'” Cruz said. You see, when the New York Post tweeted about Hunter Biden and Joe Biden’s corruption related to China, Ukraine and Russia, Twitter blatantly censored and blocked the stories. They didn’t just stop you and me from spreading the stories, they shut down the New York Post’s Twitter account for two weeks.”
The Texas Republican pointed out that Twitter’s censorship and blocking of such a prominent story with long-term implications can have a significant negative impact.
“The New York Post is not some gossipy news organization, it’s the fourth largest newspaper in the country in terms of circulation. It was founded by Alexander freakin’ Hamilton.” Cruz said.
When it comes to Facebook, Cruz describes the company as “problematic,” but in a more forgiving tone.
“Zuckerberg at least acknowledges the need to protect free speech, I’m sure he does.” Cruz said, “Because Twitter and Google are so bad, even Facebook is so bad, but at least touting free speech makes him look significantly better than his online rivals, but all three of those online giants have very serious problems.”
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