Wednesday on Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) questioned the timing of Google’s threat to de-platform websites over comment sections as Big Tech faces the possibility of having its liability protections taken away.
Cotton, also referencing his own run-ins with The New York Times and Twitter, said Monday’s news about Google threatening Zero Hedge and The Federalist over an uncurated comment section, was further proof of thought police.
“You do have left-wing thought police not only in The New York Times newsroom and in Twitter but throughout journalism,” he said. “And increasingly, at businesses and in politics, as well, who were raised in social justice seminars and they think they’re entitled to be protected from any opinion they don’t like as opposed to trying to refute opinions they don’t like with stronger arguments and better evidence. Look at what happened yesterday with The Federalist — the conservative news site that NBC News targeted for de-platforming by Google. And it looks like Google was prepared to do that until they got caught.”
“And that was about, Brian, not an article The Federalist had published but, rather, the comment section,” Cotton continued. “The comment section, I would say, that like most Web sites, The Federalist does not monitor or curate. It is a curious time for big tech to be threatening to de-platform Web sites because of uncurated comments at a time when Big Tech may be facing the loss or at least the modification of its legal liability protections because they claim they don’t curate their comments.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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