Big tech is out to silence those voices it disagrees with on the political spectrum. For those on the right who argue that social media platforms are private corporations that have the right to ban users they don’t agree with, they are simply wrong—and dangerously anesthetized. Even twitter’s own Jack Dorsey has admitted in congressional testimony that its platform is an equivalent to the modern-day town square, where free speech is protected. Twitter and Facebook can’t be both town squares and publishers. They must choose.

While the silent majority remains woefully ignorant and asleep on this important issue, those that do understand the difference in media and journalism are applauding the banning of individuals they deem “hateful,” believing it bolsters their sides fight for power and that, should they win in the banning wars, they will be immune to social media control, but they’d also be wrong. The end game of these big tech oligarchies isn’t just banning ideas and speech they don’t like but in controlling the thoughts, free movement and free action of all individuals across the globe.

Big tech isn’t just banning the free speech of those on the right, however, they are hamstringing them from participating in everyday life by removing them from monetary systems such as PayPal and denying them the right to have a banking account and access to credit, with Chase Bank and Master Card at the head of this draconian move to illegally disrupt the lives of sovereign individuals. Some of the vanquished, such as Laura Loomer, are actually banned from Lyft and Uber. It is inconceivable that a traditional taxi company would be allowed to discriminate against a private citizen because of their social media status, but that is what is happening in America today. In China, your actual ability to travel is restricted based on your social media score and journalists and conservatives have been banned from traveling to entire countries.

Enter the movie “You Can’t Watch This,” which exposes the dangers of censorship by social media. The hour-long movie was produced by twenty-something, Irish-born Caolan Robertson, who immigrated to the United Kingdom and is often associated with political dissident Tommy Robinson, and directed by British director George Llewellyn-John. Responding to Big League Politics’ request for comment on the film, Llewellyn-John explained that he hopes to inform the world that social media is a vital part of modern life, and excluding members of the public from it represents a direct threat. Llewellyn-John also said, “It’s the one person one vote principle. It doesn’t matter how educated you are or what your income is or what you do for a living—you get a vote. It should be the same for social media.” The movie is set to drop tomorrow, May 15, and can be pre-ordered at Vimeo and you can watch the the trailer here.

 

Zuckerburg’s former Facebook co-partner, Chris Hughes, has doubled down on his recent call to break up Facebook, but unfortunately he skims over the larger issue, which is censorship. In an opinion piece for the New York Times, Hughes said, “We are a nation with a tradition of reigning in monopolies, no matter how well intentioned the leaders of these companies may be. Mark’s power is unprecedented and un-American.”  Hughes wants the monopoly broken up by government but then calls on government to hammer out guidelines on hate speech. “Hate speech,” however, is just a euphemism for speech other people disagree with. The First Amendment makes it clear that all speech, except perhaps that calling for violence, is protected.

Though I applaud Chris Hugh’s outspoken criticism of Facebook’s power in a prominent journal and also believe Facebook should be broken up under our current anti-trust laws, he doesn’t go far enough in exposing the dark underbelly of censorship or speak about the problem of totalitarian censorship in those nation’s with no First Amendment rights. In a report that highlights the political meddling of Facebook, Breitbart says, “Facebook has shut down 23 major populist Italian pages with 2.5 million followers just two weeks before the European elections. According to Italian media, the majority of the pages supported the populist parties La Lega (The League) and the 5-Star Movement (M5S)—who currently govern Italy in a temporary coalition. Facebook has justified this dramatic move by claiming that the sites shared fake news, so-called “hate speech” and “divisive content” regarding immigrants, vaccines, and Jewish people.”

Other world leaders are also moving to shut down the voice and speech of those they disagree with in a dystopian move that far exceeds anything that happened in the earlier part of the century. AP reports that the leaders of France and New Zealand will make a joint push to eliminate acts of violent extremism from being shown online in a meeting with tech leaders in Paris today. And guess who will all be a part of the meeting? You guessed it, representatives of twitter, Microsoft, Google, Facebook and other internet companies, all of which makes those claiming that these big tech platforms are private corporations and can do as they like absurd.

Unless people stand up against the tyranny of the handful of tech big giants who want total dominion, all will be lost. Since the first of the year, twitter and Facebook have been purging conservatives from its sites at unprecedented levels in the lead up to the 2020 presidential campaign, despite its denials. This isn’t just censorship, it’s election meddling, and that is the real collusion being played upon us all. #Reignwell