McClintock: ‘If You Can Say It on a Street Corner,’ You Should Be Able to Say It on Social Media

On Saturday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “America’s News HQ,” Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA) reacted to President Donald Trump being kicked off Twitter by stating, “if you can say it on a street corner, you ought to be able to say it on the social media platforms.” McClintock also pointed out social media platforms censored stories like the New York Post Hunter Biden story and said that setting up “government or corporate officials to decide what speech is acceptable and what is not” is “a very dangerous power that can quickly become abused.”

McClintock said, “Well, if you can say it on a street corner, you ought to be able to say it on the social media platforms. … They’re heavily censoring speech they disagree with. They clearly affected the 2020 election by censoring stories, for example, about the Biden family influence-peddling.”

He added, “Well, free societies don’t punish words and thoughts. They punish deeds. The reason is, because words and thoughts can be countered by better words and thoughts. That’s why we have a First Amendment. What we’re hearing now, something’s fundamentally different, is to set up government or corporate officials to decide what speech is acceptable and what is not. That’s a very dangerous power that can quickly become abused.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett