Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) thinks there should be “consequences” for social media platforms that don’t remove content from “bad actors” like far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
Wyden, who is working on a privacy bill that will protect people’s data, told Recode’s Kara Swisher that he doesn’t necessarily want the government to control private companies – he just wants private companies to employ thought police:
“I think what the Alex Jones case shows, we’re gonna really be looking at what the consequences are for just leaving common decency in the dust,” Wyden told Recode’sKara Swisher. “… What I’m gonna be trying to do in my legislation is to really lay out what the consequences are when somebody who is a bad actor, somebody who really doesn’t meet the decency principles that reflect our values, if that bad actor blows by the bounds of common decency, I think you gotta have a way to make sure that stuff is taken down.”
Wyden then went on to compare Jones to “really horrible pornography”:
“If we were talking about really horrible pornography, I think they would have moved pretty quickly to deal with it,” he added. “I think it’s also worth noting that, with respect to Alex Jones, there are probably a thousand accounts out there that are as bad as Alex Jones.”
Needless to say, no matter how you feel about Jones, Wyden’s proposal to censor “bad actors” is a slippery slope into the total destruction of free speech – and we’ve already begun the slide.
Jones, who promotes some admittedly crackpot and disgusting conspiracies, was recently banned from most major online platforms, including Facebook, Apple, and YouTube, for allegedly violating their hate speech policies. However, the censorship didn’t stop at Jones himself. Earlier this month, the popular, politically neutral h3h3 podcast had its YouTube live broadcast shut down mid-stream just because they were discussing Jones.
Wow @TeamYouTube just shut down our @theh3podcast live stream and gave us a strike for talking about Alex Jones??… What.
— Ethan Klein (@h3h3productions) August 10, 2018
YouTube quickly apologized and removed the strike from their channel, but the “mistake” made it crystal clear that any mention of Jones outside of complete and total condemnation will not be tolerated.
Further, Wyden didn’t even bother to try to hide the fact that he wants to target the opposition as a whole. He literally suggested that he wants to censor people who don’t “meet the decency principles that reflect our values” – with “our values” clearly meaning the values of the liberal agenda.
Pro-life? Censored!
Anti-communism? Censored!
Believe in traditional marriage? Censored!
Believe in enforcing immigration law? Censored!
That’s the reality we have to look forward to if people like Wyden get their way. Orwell is rolling in his grave.
