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Op-Ed

The Left Is Eager To Establish the Rules of What Should Be Censored

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Voltaire said, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

President Donaled Trump urged social media companies to “let everybody participate — the good and the not so good.”

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was asked in Congressional hearings if his company “subjectively manipulates algorithms” to push its own agenda and censor conservatives.

His response? That Facebook not only creates tools for people to connect with others, “but to make sure those tools are used for good.”

What is good? Well, the geeks at social media companies create algorithms deciding what is good.

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But when it comes to political issues, citizens do not agree on what is good. That’s why we vote.

Facebook promises political neutrality and has guidelines of what content is unacceptable — such as violence, criminal behavior, etc. — and what content qualifies as objectionable.

What is objectionable content? Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s comments are objectionable to me, but I let her babble. Social media, however, decides what is objectionable and censors it.

Dennis Prager is a syndicated radio talk show host and writer. Non-profit Prager University creates videos on political, economic and philosophical topics from a conservative perspective.

More than 80 PragerU videos have been restricted by Google/YouTube. Prager believes it was because of his political viewpoint. Restricted videos included Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz on the founding of Israel. Others include: “Why America Must Lead,” “The Ten Commandments: Do Not Murder,” “Why Did America Fight the Korean War.”

Prager filed a lawsuit to stop Google/YouTube from censoring PragerU videos. Google/YouTube claimed that censorship of certain PragerU videos was because they were inappropriate for younger audiences. The 9th District Court Judge Lucy Koh dismissed the case. Prager then filed legal action against YouTube/Google for restricting several of its videos as age-inappropriate, despite containing no adult language or graphic material.

Diamond and Silk are a pro-Trump duo who made a name for themselves on social media. They now appear regularly on Fox TV, do a “chit chat tour,” and appeared before Congress about alleged censoring of conservative viewpoints.

A movie to be released in October follows the duo through Maxine Waters’ Los Angeles congressional district to Washington D.C. Trying to put the movie’s teaser on Facebook, Diamond and Silk were censored and deemed “unsafe to the community.”

“Why in the Zuck does Mark Zuckerberg keep Zucking with us?” the duo wrote on Facebook. “They use to discriminate against you because of the color of your skin, now they are discriminating against you because of the color of your politics.”

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Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch, a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, and a Christian first-generation American. He is the author of 18 books, including many New York Times bestsellers.

Spencer led seminars on Islam and jihad for the FBI, the United States Central Command, United States Army Command and General Staff College, the U.S. Army’s Asymmetric Warfare Group, the Joint Terrorism Task Force, the Justice Department’s Anti-Terrorism Advisory Council and the U.S. intelligence community. He has discussed jihad, Islam, and terrorism at workshops sponsored by the U.S. State Department.

Under orders of then-Homeland Security Director John Brennan, Spencer was dropped from federal training programs. During Brennan’s time as Station Chief in Saudi Arabia, there were unconfirmed reports that John converted to Islam. However, he was sworn into office on the Constitution, not the Bible.

The Southern Poverty Law Center is no longer about helping southern poor. SPLC campaigns to silence those it disagrees with. Facebook, Google, YouTube and Twitter all accept SPLC’s verdict when determining which organizations are hate groups. The SPLC proclaims that Spencer is a hate-group leader.

He is not, yet Facebook and Twitter have blocked thousands from reading many of Robert’s posts.

A Facebook spokesman said the company is open to regulation. Congress regulating what is censorship, or what is objectionable content, would increase government’s size and is not the best solution. Instead there should be an evaluation of gargantuan social media companies under anti-trust legislation.

Some state attorney generals are coordinating legal strategy with reference to anti-trust violations of Facebook and Alphabet (Google’s parent company) and complaints about conservative speech restrictions. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is starting to look into alleged abuses of large social media companies.

Enforcing anti-trust laws on social media giants would accord free market competition, without an overwhelming market share adversary. This could provide results that even Voltaire would love.

Darlene Casella is a former English teacher, a stockbroker, and owner/president of a small corporation. She lives in California, and can be reached at darlenecasella@msn.com.

The views expressed in this opinion article are those of their author and are not necessarily either shared or endorsed by the owners of this website. If you are interested in contributing an Op-Ed to The Western Journal, you can learn about our submission guidelines and process here.

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