Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times,
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Friday warned that the suspension of President Donald Trump’s social media accounts wielded “unchecked power” by large tech companies.
Kate Ruane, a senior legislative counsel at the ACLU, said in a statement that Twitter’s decision to suspend Trump from social media sets a precedent for tech companies to silence voices.
The group first took issue with Trump’s usage of social media outlets to question the results of the Nov. 3 election and his allegations of voter fraud.
“We understand the desire to permanently suspend him now, but it should concern everyone when companies like Facebook and Twitter wield the unchecked power to remove people from platforms that have become indispensable for the speech of billions - especially when political realities make those decisions easier,” the ACLU statement read.
Ruane said that transparency is needed from Big Tech companies, noting that activists who don’t have alternative ways to communicate will suffer.
“President Trump can turn his press team or Fox News to communicate with the public, but others … who have been censored by social media companies—will not have that luxury. It is our hope that these companies will apply their rules transparently to everyone,” according to the statement.
Other concerns have been expressed about civil liberties after Apple and Google moved to remove social media app Parler—a social media website used primarily by conservatives—from their respective app downloading stores, saying it has not implemented adequate moderation policies.
“Parler has not taken adequate measures to address the proliferation of these threats to people’s safety. We have suspended Parler from the App Store until they resolve these issues,” said Apple in a statement on Saturday.
Rep. Devin Nunes: It’s Time to Arrest Big Tech Executives
Rep. Devin Nunes has called for the criminal prosecutions of Big Tech executives who have hijacked American democracy.
Rep. Nunes joined Maria Bartiromo on Sunday to discuss Big Tech’s digital ‘war on terror‘ against half of the country:
Rep. Devin Nunes: “It doesn’t even matter if you’re Republican or conservative. If you don’t want to be regulated by left-wingers that are at Twitter and Facebook and Instagram where you get shadowbanned and nobody gets to see you. They get to decide what’s violent and nonviolent. It’s preposterous. So, I don’t know where the hell the Department of Justice is right now or the FBI. This is clearly a violation of antitrust, civil rights, the RICO statute. There should be a racketeering investigation on all the people that coordinated this attack on not only a company but on all of those like us, like me, like you, Maria… These CEOs who are doing this should be prosecuted criminally. I’ve been talking to many of my colleagues, Republicans on the House side and a couple Senators… The Supreme Court, these federal judges, have got to step in.”
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