Published on August 10, 2024, 12:33 am

A coalition of over thirty conservative organizations has issued an assertive warning to large tech firms, urging them to avoid a replay of the censorship debacle that occurred during the 2020 presidential race. Drawing from real news events, like how tech platforms — under pressure from government officials — censored trusted news around the controversial Hunter Biden laptop story.

The groups accuse leading tech companies of ‘kowtowing’ to the Federal Bureau of Investigations’ (FBI) requests to block some stories related to Hunter Biden’s laptop. Both Facebook (now Meta) and Twitter are cited as having acted suppressively – locking accounts or obstructing linked story shares and reducing visibility of reposted content.

This suppression narrative is said to potentially have shifted public opinion in favor of President Joe Biden during the final stages of vote casting. Since then, it has been confirmed by FBI that there was indeed foreign money pouring into Hunter Biden’s account with possible intentions of swaying political inclined towards their directions.

Even though both Facebook and Twitter later apologized following backlash over this act, progressive activists continued to advocate against perceived misinformation in support of these platforms.

Drawing from a Christian worldview standpoint, they take issue with recent declarations made by President Joe Biden’s press secretary regarding what she termed “cheap fakes,” referring to videos apparently showing the president seem senile – a claim proved entirely accurate after significant debate performance.

The coalition goes on record stating they harbor profound concerns about whether these key industry players have learned from previous pitfalls. The article cites an incident where Google was unable once upon a time to auto-complete searches for ‘President Donald Trump.’ In contrast, queries centered on him only led users towards stories about Vice-President Kamala Harris.

Moreover, accusations abound about Google’s influence on search results concerning electoral candidates: conspicuously burying Donald Trump’s projected website while promoting those aligned against him. This indicates interference in favor of left-leaning ideologies. It also underscores Microsoft’s Bing and DuckDuckGo having similar strategic actions, and Google’s Gemini AI drawing flak for whitewashing images of white persons from its tool.

The coalition further highlights current issues, including allegations that Google interfered with the 2022 midterm elections by censoring websites linked to Republican Senate candidates or Meta and Microsoft’s Xandr giving advertising preferential treatment against right-leaning news organizations. Remarkably alarming is the continued association of major Big Tech companies like Amazon, Apple, Google, and Meta with NetChoice trade association; calling for carte blanche clearance for platforms to practice discriminatory tactics.

Lastly, these groups have persistently urged CEOs of tech firms to adopt a level playing field in their operations; notably rejecting censorship requests from government authorities as not only injurious to the free flow of ideas but an overt attack on freedom itself.

This development arises amid growing skepticism over the validity of alleged censorship by AI tools or small activist factions in deciding the truth or otherwise in news. Spotlit is Elon Musk’s opposition to censoring trusted news around Hunter Biden’s laptop story that led to a significant backlash against Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), culminating in disbandment on Thursday.