To Remedy or Retaliate: Big Tech’s Censorship pushes for obliteration, not unity

Amid recent controversies surrounding the Capitol riots of January 6, President Trump was banned from Twitter for “using violent rhetoric.” Following the move by Twitter, the platform Parler, predominantly used by conservative users, was taken off Amazon and Apple. With Twitter and other social media platforms censoring right-wing users, there has been an uproar among conservatives who fear this could be a slippery slope leading to the violation of even the most peaceful freedom of speech. We are at a critical moment in American history, where we decide how to heal after a period of destructive political combatancy. It seems Big Tech’s proposed solution is #cancelling the right.

Despite the debate raging on about where this censorship will end, it should be acknowledged that tech companies are within their rights to ban speech as they deem necessary. Mark Kende, the Director of the Drake Constitutional Law Center states, "[tech companies are] not technically infringing on [users’] free speech…the First Amendment only applies when the government tries banning you. And these are not government entities, these are major, private corporations.”

However, the issue is not necessarily grappling with whether this is a constitutional violation or not, but rather dealing with the dangers of politicizing the information and viewpoints shared on social media, and unfairly tipping the scales against those with a set of minority political beliefs. Big Tech companies undoubtedly hold an immense amount of power - I mean, they own your Snapchats and can sell your Facebook information- and now these platforms are using their power to control the media and the news funneled to the populace. "It's a pretty dangerous thing to have major private power sources, private corporations, controlling speech in a democracy," Kende said.

This whole “let's try to silence Trump and his whole base” effort is a very problematic, and frankly, hypocritical, agenda for the Democrats. When President Biden says, “if we were in high school, I’d take him behind the gym and beat the hell out of him,” the left just shrugs the comment off as a joke rather than questioning him, his rhetoric, and the extent of his intent. When Speaker Nancy Pelosi says “people will do what they do” in response to violent mobs taking down a statue this past summer, she is praised for having compassion for those brave enough to smash windows in the name of justice. When a conservative college student posts a Tweet sharing their views? Simply an abhorrent incitement of violence. 

While the events at the Capitol were unacceptable, the left cannot say that this sole event is the reason for banning conservative speech. Don’t let them fool you, this has been their plan from well before January 6. Remember when Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, in support of efforts by the Trump Accountability Project, called on her supporters to identify Trump sycophants, archive their tweets, and essentially build a dossier against them all in preparation for their day of reckoning? I thought the foundation of the Democratic party was to be inclusive, accepting of all ideas and walks of life. Seems to me that when those ideas are not perfectly in line with the Democratic agenda, you're not welcome - you’re a threat to democracy who is directly responsible for patriarchal, capitalistic, and racist structures of inequity. 

I’m not saying one party is right and the other isn’t. That's selective outrage, and I’m not going to base an argument on that. The right is responsible for their own array of harmful actions, but they must be given a chance to rebuild themselves and reform after the dust settles. If the left does not allow this and forces Republicans out of the public sphere to get revenge, this will only hurt America more. Already, America is held hostage by the power of Big Tech companies who are dictating what their users should and should not see. We have become the Land of the Free (only if you agree with us, the corporate liberal elite). It is the job of our government, on behalf of the people, to figure out how to deal with the growing power of Big Tech and their rights to censor. These companies, who kick out points of view that differ from those of the company’s executives, already have us in the palm of their hands. They shouldn’t get to decide how we heal.

By Zade Alzoubi

Oshkosh West Index Volume 117 Issue V

February 26th, 2021