Brent Bozell, Conservative Leaders Petition State AGs to Investigate Big Tech #Political
The MRC will be sending physical letters to all 50 state AGs. For more information on the effort, go here. See below for the full letter:
Dear Attorney General Paxton,
We, the undersigned, respectfully request that, in your capacity as Attorney General of Texas, you initiate an investigation to determine if Twitter, Facebook, and Google/YouTube violated the consumer protection statute in the state of Texas by engaging in deceptive trade practices. Specifically, Twitter, Facebook, and Google/Youtube may have knowingly and intentionally violated their terms of service by publicly claiming their services were neutral platforms when in fact they are not. Consider the following claims made by the CEOs of these companies in sworn testimony:
Twitter: In his testimony to the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey stated that, “Twitter’s purpose is to serve the public conversation. People from around the world come together on Twitter in an open and free exchange of ideas...We must ensure that all voices can be heard, and we continue to make improvements to our service so that everyone feels safe participating in the public conversation—whether they are speaking or simply listening.”
Facebook: From a 2020 CNBC interview Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, proclaimed: “I don’t think that Facebook or internet platforms in general should be arbiters of truth.” “Political speech is one of the most sensitive parts in a democracy, and people should be able to see what politicians say.”
Google: CEO Sundar Pichai emphasized that Google & YouTube are both neutral platforms, “We are equally committed to protecting the quality and integrity of information on our platforms, and supporting our democracy in a non-partisan way… Let me be clear: We approach our work without political bias, full stop. To do otherwise would be contrary to both our business interests and our mission, which compels us to make information accessible to every type of person, no matter where they live or what they believe.”
The CEOs of Twitter, Facebook, and Google/YouTube all purport to be non-partisan platforms for communication.
Individuals and organizations join and engage with these platforms, providing their personal information and paying for commercial goods and services. Individuals and organizations who participate on these platforms do so with the understanding that these platforms are what their CEOs publicly represent them as: unbiased sources of communication.
Consider the following public evidence, however, that contradicts the claims made by the social media CEOs that Twitter, Facebook, and Google/YouTube are open and neutral communications platforms:
Twitter: As of January 4, Twitter censored President Donald Trump’s personal and campaign twitter account 625 times, and never once censored anything Joe Biden said on Twitter. And as of January 6, Twitter made the unprecedented move to remove President Trump’s account - as well as his campaign account - altogether from its platform.
Google: Google has targeted conservative platforms, like the Federalist and PragerU on its search platform and its sister video platform, YouTube, has done the same. Google threatened to demonetize The Federalist and severely limit the reach of PragerU, an influential conservative organization which utilizes videos to spread conservatives ideals. Following Twitter’s lead, Google/YouTube has also suspended President Trump’s entire YouTube channel. Lastly, Parler, the alternative social media platform to Twitter, is banned from the Google Play store: anyone with an Android phone cannot download the application.
Facebook: From March 1, 2020 through Election Day, Facebook removed more than 265,000 pieces of content and displayed warnings on 180 million pieces of content relating to the presidential election. These removals were taken down on the basis that the content violated Facebook’s voter interference policies. During this election cycle, Facebook constantly added new rules for election posts, froze political ads, and censored hashtags like #sharpiegate and #stopthesteal. By reducing the reach of these posts, Facebook has been picking and choosing who will be allowed to have a voice on the platform and who will not. Facebook also announced it intentionally limited distribution of a New York Post bombshell exposé on Hunter Biden’s alleged questionable dealings with foreign officials before the election. And as of January 12th, Facebook is censoring ALL mention of the term “Stop the Steal” on their platforms.
If these organizations have indeed engaged in these types of patterns of behavior, then their business practices fly in the face of what they represent their platforms to be. Facebook, Google and Twitter are willfully and knowingly misrepresenting the nature of the services they are offering to the public. They claim they are platforms free from political bias, but that is unequivocally not the case. In fact, during a Senate hearing in October 2020, both Twitter and Facebook claimed that they censored liberal accounts as much as conservatives. When asked to provide an example of liberal accounts they censor, neither Facebook’s Zuckerberg nor Twitter’s Dorsey could come up with a single example.
The users of these platforms give away their private information and engage in the use of these platforms with the understanding that their engagement will not be censored, nor will others. Further, those who use the platforms for commercial purposes also buy services from the platforms to promote goods and services, with the clear and reasonable expectation that these platforms are what they say they are. Google/ YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook therefore all appear to be engaging in deceptive trade practices and as with all other 49 US states, they are open to investigation in your state under your state’s consumer protections laws.
We the undersigned, representing millions of Americans who have felt firsthand the deceptive bias of these platforms respectfully request that you initiate an investigation into these companies. We believe that these acts provide reasonable cause for you to use your enforcement mechanisms for the investigation of this issue in your state.
Amazon, Twitter, Facebook, and Google YouTube have unparalleled power in our modern society. Consider the fact that these platforms undeniably played a key role in swaying the election to make Joe Biden president of the United States.[5] But in addition, they also have an oversized impact on shaping our society and indeed our commerce. This is not a partisan issue. As the Attorney General of the state of Texas, you owe it to the citizens of your state to investigate the harmful and fraudulent trade practices of these deceptive platforms.
We look forward to watching your progress on this issue.
Respectfully,
Will Chamberlain
Publisher
Human Events
Rod D. Martin
Founder and CEO
The Martin Organization, Inc.
Sherri R. Martin
Executive Vice President
The Martin Organization, Inc.
Christina Murphy Lusk
President
The Martin Foundation
Lourdes Cosio
Campaign for the American Future
Guillermo J. Aragon
Chief Financial Officer
Martin Imaging, Inc.
Shawn A. Mitchell
Former National Chaplain
National Federation of Republican Assemblies
James L. Martin
Founder/Chairman, 60 Plus Association
Saulius “Saul” Anuzis
President, 60 Plus Association
The Honorable George K Rasley, Jr.
Managing Editor
ConservativeHQ.com
Paul J. Gessing
President
Rio Grande Foundation
John-Henry Westen
Editor-in-Chief, Co-Founder
Life Site News
David Kupelian
Vice President and Managing Editor
WND
Rachel Bovard
Senior Director of Policy
Conservative Partnership Institute
Eunie Smith
President Emeritus
Eagle Forum
Becky Gerritson
Executive Director
Eagle Forum of Alabama
Sharon Slater
President
Family Watch International
Dr. Ted Baehr
MOVIEGUIDE®
Terry Schilling
Executive Director
American Principles Project
Jon Schweppe
Director of Policy and Government Affairs
American Principles Project
Bill Donohue
President
Catholic League
Anne Schlafly Cori
Chairman
Eagle Forum
Jim Lakely
Vice President
& Director of Communications
The Heartland Institute
C. Preston Noell IIII
President
Tradition, Family, Property, Inc.
Jenny Beth Martin
Honorary Chairman
Tea Party Patriots Action
Kevin Freeman
Founder
NSIC Institute
David N. Bossie
President
Citizens United
Mark Fitzgibbons
President of Corporate Affairs
American Target Advertising, Inc.
Thomas Spence
President and Publisher
Regnery Publishing
LTC Allen West
Chairman
Republican Party of Texas
Brigitte Gabriel
Founder & Chairman
ACT For America
Kristi Hamrick
Spokesperson
Students for Life of America
Nancy Schulze
Founder, President
RCW Speakers
Tricia Erickson
President
Angel Pictures & Publicity, Inc.
Richard Manning
President
Americans for Limited Government
Robert Romano
Vice President of Public Policy
Americans for Limited Government
Sharon Slater
President
Family Watch International
Penny Nance
CEO and President
Concerned Women for America
Rob Allman
Vice President/News
Christian Broadcasting Network
Austin Ruse
President
Center for Family and Human Rights
Sandy Rios
Director of Governmental Affairs .
American Family Association
John Hinderaker
President
Center of the American Experiment
Tim Wildmon
President
American Family Association
Hon. J. Kenneth Blackwell
Chairman
Constitutional Congress, Inc.
Seth Dillon
CEO
The Babylon Bee
Amy Kremer
Chairman
Women for America First
Kristan Hawkins
President
Students for Life of America
Students for Life Action
Elaine Donnelly
President
Center for Military Readiness
Joseph Farah
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
WND
Gary L. Bauer
President
American Values
Governor Scott Walker
President
Young America’s Foundation
Floyd Brown
Publisher
Western Journal
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