Several Republican members of the United States House introduced a bill earlier this month that would prevent the federal government from pressuring social media titans into carrying out acts of censorship against the regime.
Didi Rankovic of Reclaim the Net observed how Big Tech has become a de facto private arm of the managerial regime which often sees its despotic actions limited by restrictions of the First Amendment:
“While the First Amendment directly prohibits government and public entities from censoring speech, the current administration has allegedly found a workaround by getting Big Tech to ‘do the dirty work’ for them.”
The bill in question, Protecting Free Speech from Government Interference (H.R. 8752), “is the work of ranking members of their respective committees: Congressman Jim Jordan (House Judiciary Committee), Cathy McMorris Rodgers (House Energy and Commerce Committee), and James Comer (House Oversight Committee),” per Rankovic.
A copy of the bill can be found here.
The three House members issued a press release where they condemned the Biden regime for attempting to institutionalize censorship and “coordinate with Big Tech” to infringe on online free speech.
The bill specifically “prohibits federal officials from using their official authority, influence, or resources – including contracting, grantmaking, rulemaking, licensing, permitting, investigatory, or enforcement actions – to promote the censorship of lawful speech or advocate that a third party or private entity censor speech,” and attaches penalties for violators.
This is a good first step for securing online free speech. That said, the ultimate goal should be one consisting of creating an Internet Bill of Rights that explicitly prohibits censorship from both private and state actors.
Ultimately, such reforms must have teeth. Namely, they must feature punitive measures for those who violate them. The thorough punishment of our enemies must be the standard operating procedure of the America First Right.