Rep. Nadler Says Conservative Censorship Claims are 'Baseless,' Received Over $20K from Google
A congressman who has labeled claims that social media sites stifle conservative perspectives a hoax is also a major recipient of corporate cash from Google, according to a new report.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., received more than $20,000 from Alphabet, the parent company of Google, according to a report by Breitbart.
Information available on Opensecrets.org showed that through March 31, Nadler had received $20,800 from Alphabet during 2017 and 2018, which tied Alphabet for the top spot among Nadler’s contributors.
https://twitter.com/TheStudentLife7/status/989721031169355778
Nadler also received $18,350 from Google in the 2013-14 cycle, the site noted.
Federal Elections Commission reports show Nadler received funds from Google’s Net Pac every year from 2012 through 2018.
On Thursday, during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on efforts by social media outlets to censor conservative voices, Nadler ridiculed conservatives’ claims.
“The notion that social media companies are filtering out conservative voices is a hoax,” declared Nadler, saying allegations of a “Silicon Valley plot to censor conservatives” was “baseless.”
According to Reuters, Nadler said, “conservative commentary, including conspiracy theories of a conservative bent, regularly rank among the most far-reaching posts on Facebook and elsewhere.”
Ultraliberal Rep. Jerrold Nadler: Social-media censorship of conservatives is a hoax (like climate change?) https://t.co/IVorEWpdl4
— MRC NewsBusters (@newsbusters) April 28, 2018
In a released statement, Nadler criticized the committee for hearing from pro-Trump bloggers Diamond and Silk — two black women who support President Donald Trump and have said they were muzzled by Facebook.
“House Republicans have no time for substantive oversight of the Trump Administration, or election security, or privacy policy, or even a discussion about the wisdom of regulating social media platforms — but they have made time for Diamond and Silk,” he said in the statement.
Blackburn shared her personal experience of having a campaign video blocked by Twitter last fall as an example of the excessive social media focus on censoring conservatives.https://t.co/lsiLItqi8S
— KFI AM 640 (@KFIAM640) April 27, 2018
Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., pushed back against Nadler’s claims, citing a battle she fought with Twitter to get a video of her announcing her campaign put on the platform and saying that conservative content is censored “on some very flimsy pretenses.”
“Free speech, as a value, is endangered even here in America and is nonexistent in most of the world,” she said, according to the Tennessean. “We need to recognize that the global reach of these companies creates overwhelming pressure against free speech, and we need to do a much better job counteracting that pressure.”
Blackburn said that just because she, along with Diamond and Silk, could fight the social media giants and win does not mean the problem does not exist.
“I had the ability to fight back,” Blackburn said. “Diamond and Silk had the ability to fight back. But what about the thousands of others being thrown out of our new public squares for no good, definable reason?”
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