Justice Thomas shows how we can end Big Tech censorship for good

[Leroy N. Soetoro]

https://nypost.com/2021/04/06/justice-thomas-shows-how-we-can-end-big-
tech-censorship-for-good/

On Monday, Justice Clarence Thomas announced that the Supreme Court soon
will have to put an end to Big Tech tyranny. Amen. If the high court fails
to act, it could mean the end of free speech in the 21st century and the
shriveling of our constitutional rights to mere “paper rights” — still
there on paper but functionally hollowed out.

Thomas cited the problem of social-media platforms like Facebook and
Google wielding unlimited power to censor users whose views they don’t
like. His opinion offers hope at a time when Democrats controlling
Congress are demanding that tech giants censor more. On March 25,
Democrats on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce ordered tech CEOs
to silence views that “undermine social-justice movements.”

Thomas’ announcement came in the context of a case involving former
President Donald Trump. In office, Trump occasionally blocked his Twitter
critics, and some of those critics sued, claiming the president’s Twitter
account is a public forum. The high court ruled the case is now moot,
because Trump is out of office. Thomas concurred — and agreed with a lower
court holding that Trump had violated his critics’ First Amendment right
to be heard.

But Thomas said “the more glaring concern” isn’t what Trump did to a few
critics, but rather the power of tech giants to censor or ban users
entirely, even the leader of the Free World. The justice expressed
astonishment that Facebook and Google could remove Trump’s account “at any
time for any or no reason.”

Wrote Thomas: “One person controls Facebook . . . and just two control
Google.” Three people, in other words, have the power to disappear any of
us from the digital public square, even a commander in chief. The
Supremes, Thomas concluded, must rein in this unaccountable tyranny.

Big Tech apologists argue that private companies are free to censor as
they please. And it’s true that the First Amendment prohibits only
government from silencing viewpoints. But private ownership is never the
beginning and end of constitutional analysis, not when there is so much at
stake.

As Thomas showed, these companies are more like common carriers or public
utilities than private companies. And they must be regulated as such: AT&T
can’t refuse to open a phone account for you or limit your conversations
based on your worldview. Likewise, Southwest Airlines can’t pick and
choose who rides its aircraft based on their opinions about transgenderism
or #Russiagate. Yet the tech giants get to do exactly that. Why?

Thomas also likened Big Tech to “public accommodations,” such as hotels
and baseball stadiums, which are legally required to serve everyone and
not discriminate.

Nor did Thomas buy free-market absolutists’ argument about competition
limiting Big Tech tyranny. He pointed to the “substantial barriers to
entry” facing newcomers. The fate of Parler proves the justice’s point.
When the Twitter alternative offered a censorship-free platform, Big Tech
colluded to crush it.

We’re facing a new form of censorship, in some ways far more sinister than
the state-directed variety. Democrats and their media allies are happy to
deputize Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to censor the deplorables; there is
no recourse or appeal, because the people doing the censoring are
nameless, faceless Silicon Valley operatives.

And don’t count on President Joe Biden. A staggering 14 of his picks to
serve in the transition or in his new government are Big Tech alumni,
according to a Daily Caller tally. Indeed, Biden probably owes his
presidency in part to Big Tech — which rushed to censor this newspaper’s
reporting on the Hunter Files, on the patently false pretext that The Post
had peddled “disinformation” or “hacked material.”

It’s salutary, then, that Thomas believes the high court can apply his
reasoning without waiting for Congress. Until then, the public will hear
only what Silicon Valley wants, and the place is awash with wokesters more
dangerous than any college campuses — because these people control the
levers of information.

Last week, Lara Trump posted an interview with the former president on
Facebook. Immediately, Facebook took it down, explaining that “further
content posted in the voice of Donald Trump will be removed.”

Only the high court will restore uncensored discourse, an American ideal.
Thomas’ opinion illumines the way.

Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant governor of New York.



--
"LOCKDOWN", left-wing COVID fearmongering. 95% of COVID infections
recover with no after effects.

No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.

Donald J. Trump, cheated out of a second term by fraudulent "mail-in"
ballots. Report voter fraud: sf.n...@mail.house.gov

Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.

President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.