Incoming Federal Communications Commission chief Brendan Carr (see NEW: Trump Announces Who Will Become Chairman of the FCC) has sent a very explicit letter to CEOs of so-called Big Tech companies, giving them a choice of reducing their reliance on fact-checking sites, such as NewsGuard, to censor content on the internet or facing increased regulation by the FCC. The letter specifically calls into question whether “moderation” decisions based on information provided by third parties could pass muster as “good faith” when that information is, itself, bogus or corrupt.
Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft & others have played central roles in the censorship cartel.
The Orwellian named NewsGuard along with “fact checking” groups & ad agencies helped enforce one-sided narratives.
The censorship cartel must be dismantled. pic.twitter.com/Xf0sEYOUfv
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) November 15, 2024
I am confident that once the ongoing transition is complete, the Administration and Congress will take broad ranging actions to restore the First Amendment rights that the Constitution grants to all Americans — and those actions can include both a review of your companies’ activities as well as efforts by third-party organizations and groups that have acted to curtail those rights.
For now, I am writing to obtain information from you that can inform the FCC’s work to promote free speech and a diversity of viewpoints. As you know, Big Tech’s prized liability shield, Section 230, is codified in the Communications Act, which the FCC administers. As relevant here, Section 230 only confers benefits on Big Tech companies when they operate, in the words of the statute, “in good faith.”
It is in this context that I run writing to obtain information about your work with one specific organization — the Orwellian named NewsGuard. As exposed by the Twitter Files, NewsGuard is a for-profit company that operates as part of the broader censorship cartel. Indeed, NewsGuard bills itself as the Internet’s arbiter or, as its co-founder put it, a “Vaccine Against Misinfortnation.” NewsGuard purports to rate the credibility of news and information outlets and tells readers and advertisers which outlets they can trust. As the U.S. House Committee on Small Business 2024 Staff Report stated, “[t]hese ratings, combined with NewsGuard’s vast partnerships in the advertising industry, select winners and losers in the news media space.” NewsGuard does so by leveraging its partnerships with advertising agencies to effectively censors targeted outlets.
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But NewsGuard’s own record raises questions about whether relying on the organization’s products would constitute “good faith” actions within the meaning of Section 230. For one, reports indicate that NewsGuard has consistently rated official propaganda from the Conununist Party of China as more credible than American publications. For another, NewsGuard aggressively fact checked and penalized websites that reported on the COVID-19 lab leak theory.For still another, the Small Business Committee and multiple Media Research Center studies detail numerous instances where NewsGuard apparently does not apply its own rating system in an even-handed n1anner. The list goes on.
NewGuard is a rather odious company that works hand-in-glove with organizations that seek to stymie the free exchange of ideas online. Representative James Comer’s Committee on Oversight and Accountability also has NewGuard in its crosshairs (James Comer Launches Investigation Into Major Censorship Operation). The Twitter files, which Carr referenced in his letter, showed that federal agencies, such as the CIA and Department of Defense, worked with NewsGuard and other similar groups to shut down conversations they did not like; see Matt Taibbi Releases Remarks Ahead of Weaponization Subcommittee Hearing on the Twitter Files. Teachers relied on NewGuard to determine what information their students were allowed to see; see Teachers Union Partners With Progressive Organization to Further Indoctrinate Children. NewGuard has even targeted RedState specifically:
It’s still happening, and it makes even less sense than before. There are certain topics that we get our hand slapped if we cover in a way Big Tech doesn’t like. By “hand slapped” I mean “money taken out of our wallet,” and by “cover in a way Big Tech doesn’t like,” I mean covering the topics truthfully. Currently, some of those topics are climate change, COVID/COVID vaccines, trans issues, and the 2020 election – to name a few.
In just the past week, these articles were flagged by Big Tech:
Yes, MrBeast’s Friend Chris Tyson Abandoned His Wife and Son When He Identified as a Woman
WATCH: Riley Gaines Defends Women’s Sports, Calls out Lia Thomas ‘Mansplaining What It Is to Be a Feminist’ in Senate Hearing
Seriously. Covering a woman’s Congressional testimony about sexual harassment on a college campus is “dangerous and derogatory.” Standing up for a child whose family life is being ruined by a destructive fad is “dangerous and derogatory.”
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Anyone who’s read RedState for any period of time knows that being labeled as “dangerous and derogatory” by the types of people who run Big Tech companies doesn’t discourage us or offend us; it fuels us and inspires us to be even more dangerous and derogatory.
Unfortunately, in addition to labeling us and using mean words, Big Tech hits us in the wallet for that “dangerous and derogatory” content, or as it’s more accurately defined by people with two brain cells to rub together, “the truth.”
BACKGROUND: Big Tech Calls Us ‘Dangerous and Derogatory’ – and We Think That’s a Badge of Honor
Some free speech organizations have been trying to push back (see Free Speech Group Launches Offensive Against NewsGuard), but those groups simply don’t have the legal clout that the FCC does.
It’s great to see the incoming FCC chairman putting the forces of censorship on notice that their comfortable grift of preventing free people from speaking out against injustice and tyranny may be coming to an end.
