Free speech on the Internet has not led to an increase in “hate crimes,” according to a U.S. Department of Commerce report sent to the House in January, but the report did not appear on any government Web sites. Sources close to the administration said they were confused that the report was not publicly released after it was sent to the House.
Breitbart News has obtained a copy of the report, titled “The Role of Telecommunications in Hate Crimes, An Updated Report,” prepared by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), a division of the Department of Commerce. The NTIA is responsible for advising the President on all matters related to telecommunications and the Internet.
The Role of Telecommunications in Hate Crimes, An Update Report revises the findings of the 1993 report, The Role of Telecommunications in Hate Crimes, which is publicly available online, but the latest revised version of the report addressing the findings remains unpublished.
Sources close to the drafting and approval process suspect that bureaucrats and establishment politicians with a vested interest in the “hate crime” scare are trying to suppress the report because its findings challenge the mainstream media’s story that the Internet is fueling a rise in hate crimes.
“Reports like this are usually made public,” said a source who worked closely with government agencies to produce the report.” I don’t know why this report hasn’t been posted on the government website. It’s been submitted to the House of Representatives, and it’s no longer a private matter. I suspect the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department may have had something to do with it.”
The updated report was strongly opposed by the Civil Rights Division, the Justice Department agency responsible for prosecuting hate crimes, according to the source, who worked in the Trump administration. The source said the Civil Rights Division is also at the forefront of “hysteria” to counter white nationalism and extremism in the United States.
The report was approved by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and sent to the House of Representatives, despite the Civil Rights Division’s opposition. But the report has not appeared publicly on any website, no one in the House has mentioned it, and its findings have not been reported in the media. Readers can now read the full report in English – here.
The NTIA Hate Report 2021 states flatly that there is no evidence of a causal relationship, or even any correlation, between the growth of Internet use and hate crimes, and that media allegations of a spike in hate crimes over the past five years are not supported by Justice Department crime statistics. “The evidence does not suggest that the expansive growth in electronic communications, particularly the massive use of the Internet and mobile devices and social media, has not led to a rise in hate crime incidents over the past decade.”
The report also warns that efforts to crack down on online communications because of unfounded concerns about “hate crimes” would undermine the First Amendment. “Efforts to control or monitor online speech, even with the goal of reducing crime, would seriously undermine the First Amendment and violate free speech in the United States.”
The report also criticizes academic “extremist” researchers for failing to demonstrate a causal link between online hate speech and real-world hate crimes. “This study, and many like it, fail to demonstrate any causal relationship between increased social media use and increased violence. This study cannot even present comprehensive descriptive data linking the increase in hate speech on social media to the increase in hate crimes.”
Finally, the report issued a scathing condemnation of Silicon Valley companies using the “hate speech” scare to undermine free speech on social media platforms. “Leaders in the technology community have recognized that it is not enough to rely on human teams to censor content; artificial intelligence must be used. Interestingly, much of the AI technology has evolved from the methods pioneered by the Chinese Communist Party to stifle political discussion and dissent. This censorship poses a real danger to our political system as content on serious, pressing, and urgently needed engagement on political and social issues is removed. “
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