The censorship of Americans’ speech by high-tech companies such as Twitter and Facebook has been widely condemned.
Peter Navarro, director of the White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing, said the move by tech giants to pull the social media platform Parler, which “guarantees free speech,” has a chilling effect.
“What we’re seeing here is a classic collusive oligopoly, just old wine in a new bottle,” Navarro told Fox Business. “What we’re seeing with this attack on Parler makes me shudder. It’s one thing to take away everyone’s platform because of free speech, and this is a pincer movement. It starts with Google and Apple (the first part of this clampdown) not allowing the Parler App to be downloaded.” In the past week, Google and Apple removed Parler from their respective app download libraries.
And on Monday morning (Jan. 11), Amazon Web Services (AWS) suspended web services offered to Parler’s website. parler then filed a lawsuit against the Seattle-based tech giant, claiming it violated its contractual agreement. It was later added that an Amazon.com representative sent text messages to Parler CEO John Matze indicating that the company was only concerned about whether President Trump would sign up for an account on Parler, not whether there would be violent content on Parler.
Parler also alleged in court documents filed in Washington state court that Amazon Web Services violated the U.S. Sherman Antitrust Act.
Navarro added that Amazon had launched a “brutal massacre to take a small company out of the cloud” because it would no longer be able to access its own data. In fact, he said, “Amazon just wiped out that small company in one fell swoop.”
Navarro said Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was “allowed” to tweet, and that “the official propaganda agency of the Chinese Communist Party has been tweeting about it,” but that Trump’s account was deleted by Twitter.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey issued the ban on Trump.
He said, “Taking these actions that undermine the public dialogue divides us and limits the possibilities for clarity, redemption and learning. I think it sets a dangerous precedent: what power an individual or a company can have in the global public conversation.”
Twitter’s blocking of Trump’s account has also been criticized by leaders in Germany, France, Mexico and other countries. And in response, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said the account ban shows that big tech companies have gone too far.
Kate Ruane, senior legislative counsel for the ACLU, said in a statement that Twitter’s blocking of Trump on social media sets a precedent.
We understand their desire to permanently stop him now, but when companies like Facebook and Twitter exercise unfettered power to remove someone from a platform that is essential to billions of people, it should worry everyone,” the ACLU statement said. Especially when political realities make the decision to make these easier.”
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