Attack on free speech: House Democrats ignore First Amendment, issue letter to X (formerly Twitter) demanding MORE CENSORSHIP

11/30/2023 / By Richard Brown

A coalition of more than 25 Democratic members of Congress is pressuring X (formerly Twitter) to implement online censorship through a letter, throwing the First Amendment out the window.

The Nov. 21 letter was addressed to X owner Elon Musk and X CEO Linda Yaccarino. Meanwhile, the letter’s signatories included New York Reps. Dan Goldman and Jerry Nadler, California Reps. Katie Porter and Adam Schiff, Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin and Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson.

The lawmakers accused the company of permitting and profiting from the dissemination of false and violent content, particularly related to the Israel-Hamas conflict. They expressed concerns about X’s alleged failure to enforce policies against misleading information and content promoting violence, hate, and terrorism.

Moreover, they cited reports from non-profit organizations that showed people with X Premium accounts “glorifying barbaric acts of violence against Israelis.” Much of the offensive content remained live despite being flagged by researchers.

The letter highlighted a significant reduction in X’s content moderation staff over the past year, suggesting a deliberate allowance of illegal circulation of terrorist propaganda for potential benefit. The legislators deemed such conduct inappropriate for a platform with global influence, and demanded that X uphold its public commitments and enforce its policies.

They requested all written communications related to content moderation for posts or accounts associated with or connected to Hamas by Dec. 1. “X has financially benefited from the spread of demonstrably false and misleading contents as well,” they claimed.

The representatives also pointed out that the U.S. had designated Hamas as a terrorist organization in 1997, making it unlawful to knowingly provide material support or resources to the group. “There is no ambiguity about whether violent videos generated by the group qualify under these policies. These are videos that carry official Hamas branding and iconography,” they wrote.

X under pressure to ditch 1A, censor “hate speech”

X has yet to respond to the accusations. Advertisers have left the platform since Musk acquired it for $44 billion in October 2022 due to his controversial posts and termination of employees responsible for content moderation.

The platform’s revenue in the U.S. has declined at least 55 percent year-over-year each month since Musk’s takeover. Earlier, he announced that all X revenue from ads and subscriptions on content related to the conflict would be donated to charities in the impacted region.

The letter followed X suing the watchdog group Media Matters, alleging it defamed the platform after it published a report that ads for major brands had appeared next to posts touting Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party. (Related: After losing top advertisers, Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) SUES Media Matters.)

Earlier in November, Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Don Bacon (R-NE) introduced a bill aimed at countering false information on platforms like X during the Israel-Hamas conflict. Their proposed bill, dubbed the Stopping Terrorists Online Presence and Holding Accountable Tech Entities (STOP HATE) Act, imposes a $5 million daily penalty for non-compliance.

“This legislation will require social media companies to release detailed reports of violations to their terms and services and how they’re addressing these violations, which includes using their platforms for terrorist purposes,” said Gottheimer. “It also requires the intelligence community to provide a threat assessment about what’s happening on social media.

The Anti-Defamation League expressed support for the proposed law, which is similar to an edict signed by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul in 2022. However, that edict faced criticism as it potentially violated the First Amendment.

Watch the Health Ranger Mike Adams and Maria Zeee deliver a message about censorship to Elon Musk.

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