Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) described in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal how her recent news conference was censored by YouTube as “misinformation.” According to Malliotakis, “Big Tech seems focused on acting as an extension of big government, quashing content from those who oppose their liberal ideology.”Malliotakis writes that it is time for Congress to take on Big Tech’s censorship by reining in the legal immunities that are the source of their power.
In a recent op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal Rep. Nicole Malliotakis describes the censorship she faced at the hands of Google-owned YouTube when attempting to publish a video of a news conference she held announcing a lawsuit challenging New York May Bill de Blasio’s “vaccine passport.”
Nicole Malliotakis, New York State Assembly woman, speaks at a rally in front of a tanning salon called Sunbelievable on May 28, 2020 in the Staten Island borough in New York City. Bobby Catone planned to open his salon in defiance of New York City Covid-19 guidelines. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)
In this Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2017, file photo, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki speaks during the introduction of YouTube TV at YouTube Space LA in Los Angeles. Google’s online package of about 40 television channels debuts on Wednesday, April 5, 2017, in the tech industry’s latest bid to get cable-shunning millennials to pay for television. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)
As Breitbart News senior tech correspondent Allum Bokhari reported:
Users attempting to navigate to the video are currently met with a notice from YouTube informing them that the video has been taken down due to a violation of the platform’s community guidelines, without specifying which guideline had been broken or how.
Malliotakis says she has received no explanation from YouTube. Breitbart News also reached out to Google for an explanation but received no response.
Malliotakis clarified that she believes the vaccine to be safe and effective but that de Blasio’s mandate is a major overreach by the government. Yet, YouTube removed her video alleging that it violated the site’s “medical misinformation policy.” Malliotakis says that the individuals deciding what counts as “misinformation” are doing so in a subjective manner.
Sundar Pichai, senior vice president of Chrome, speaks at Google’s annual developer conference, Google I/O, in San Francisco on 28 June 2012
Malliottakis writes:
Big Tech seems focused on acting as an extension of big government, quashing content from those who oppose their liberal ideology. President Biden has criticized social-media platforms, notably Facebook, for allowing the spread of “misinformation.” Press secretary Jen Psaki said the administration is “in regular touch with social media platforms” to flag “problematic” posts.
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In 2021 social media is how the world communicates, and the enforcement of arbitrary content guidelines imperil free speech. As censorship increases, we are heading down the path that led to the silencing of political dissent in the Soviet Union, China, Cuba and Venezuela.
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Social media was premised on the free and open exchange of ideas. It has reconnected old friends, helped people find lost loved ones, and given public figures and businesses a platform to market themselves and their products. But as Big Tech companies have grown, so has their appetite to censor. It’s time for Congress to rein them in and reform Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to require transparency for content-enforcement decisions and disclosure of appeals processes—and to remove liability protections for companies who censor constitutionally protected speech.
Read the full op-ed at the Wall Street Journal here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com