The First Amendment exists, in part, to ensure that the government will not intrude on the free exercise of religion and expression.
But what happens when our largest social media corporations wield the power to do precisely that?
Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), recently appeared on Fox News’ Sean Hannity, where he said that America’s five largest social media companies—Facebook, Google, Twitter, Apple, and Amazon—now serve as the “gatekeepers of the public square in American politics.”
In Sen. Rubio’s words:
Five companies in America now have the power to basically wipe anybody out and silence anyone.
You know, Amazon, Google, Facebook, Twitter, [Apple] … they get together and decide, we’re going to wipe somebody out, you’re done. There’s nowhere for you to communicate. You can’t even get web services, and you can’t communicate to the outside world your views.
…
This is the danger … you have a bunch of unelected, unaccountable, anonymous people deciding what we’re allowed to say to one another and what we’re allowed to share.
That’s a very dangerous moment. They have assumed basically governmental type powers without being accountable to anyone.
For this reason, Sen. Rubio joined Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and other Republicans in introducing a bill, The Limiting Section 230 Immunity to Good Samaritans Act. It would allow citizens to sue technology companies who inappropriately censor speech or engage in political activism.
This legislation was introduced last year. It’s high time our elected officials take action to protect our God-given freedoms. If they won’t, we need to elect representatives who will.
