{"id":1464027,"date":"2022-05-04T14:59:44","date_gmt":"2022-05-04T18:59:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1464027"},"modified":"2022-05-04T14:59:48","modified_gmt":"2022-05-04T18:59:48","slug":"censorship-is-the-threat-to-democracy-not-elon-musk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/censorship-is-the-threat-to-democracy-not-elon-musk\/","title":{"rendered":"Censorship Is The Threat To Democracy, Not Elon Musk"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcensorship-is-the-threat-to-democracy-not-elon-musk%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1464027&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2022\/05\/Carr.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.3.0\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p><span>Twitter\u2019s decision to accept Elon Musk\u2019s $44 billion offer has helped expose this country\u2019s free speech divide. On the one hand, many conservatives are expressing hope that Musk will bend Twitter\u2019s content moderation policies away from political censorship and towards an embrace of free expression. Sounds great to me. On the other hand, many progressives are calling Musk\u2019s public commitment to free speech a \u201cthreat to our democracy.\u201d And they are backing that assertion up with action.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>One organization called the Open Markets Institute issued a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.openmarketsinstitute.org\/publications\/open-markets-details-how-us-government-can-block-musk-takeover-of-twitter\"><span>release<\/span><\/a><span> that called for the FCC, FTC, and DOJ to block Musk\u2019s purchase of Twitter. The\u00a0 group argues that the transaction poses a <\/span><span>\u201cdirect threat to American democracy and free speech.\u201d And <\/span><span>its release cites the Telegraph Act of 1860, among other statutory authorities, in the context of arguing that federal agencies should block the deal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But the FCC has no authority to block Musk\u2019s purchase of Twitter. And while I am not in a position to speak for the DOJ or the FTC, I am not aware of any basis upon which any federal agency could lawfully block Musk\u2019s purchase, particularly in the name of advancing free speech. But that certainly won\u2019t stop people from trying. Indeed, it strikes me that many of the interest groups that will endeavor to derail this deal are not going to do so because they\u2019re interested in the neutral application of competition and antitrust laws. Instead, they will be motivated by a desire to prevent the free exchange of political views on Twitter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>So how did we get here? How did we reach a point in American discourse where there is no longer a broad, bipartisan agreement that free speech is a good thing?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>After all, it wasn\u2019t that long ago that free expression enjoyed a home solidly within the American mainstream. Ahead of the 2012 election, for instance, President Barack Obama gave a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/obamawhitehouse.archives.gov\/the-press-office\/2011\/04\/20\/remarks-president-facebook-town-hall\"><span>speech<\/span><\/a><span> at Facebook\u2019s Palo Alto headquarters in California, where he praised the free flow of information over social media \u2014 describing it as \u201cpart of what makes for a healthy democracy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But flash forward a few years and a few miles down the road. Obama just gave a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/barackobama.medium.com\/my-remarks-on-disinformation-at-stanford-7d7af7ba28af\"><span>speech<\/span><\/a><span> at Stanford University where he spoke about free speech on the internet as \u201ca threat to our democracy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>That is quite the 180. And it reflects a broader cultural change in this country that is bigger than any one person. I would argue that the pivot point in this transition likely centers on the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. That seems to be when a lot of media gatekeepers and elite opinion-makers started to publicly question whether wide-open political discourse on the internet could be compatible with their preferred outcomes at the ballot box. It appears that this moment in time marked a turning point for them \u2014 one in which they walked away from a decades-long, liberal embrace of diversity of views and towards an illiberal tendency to cancel ideas that diverge from an approved political orthodoxy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>That trend continues to manifest \u2014 not just in our culture but in our government. You can see it in the recent decision by the Department of Homeland Security to stand up a so-called \u201cDisinformation Governance Board.\u201d Talk about Orwellian.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Here\u2019s the obvious truth: free speech is not a threat to democracy \u2014 censorship is. The people that argue otherwise are simply trying to maintain their control over the political narrative.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Just look at their arguments. The pro-censorship crowd claims that Twitter must stick with its current approach to content moderation\u2014an approach that resulted in locking down the New York Post\u2019s account, banning discussions about the potential origins of COVID-19, and eliminating conversations about the efficacy of cloth masks\u2014or else the website will be flooded with terrorist speech and cesspool content. They\u2019re gaslighting. And it\u2019s an intentional distortion.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>What Musk has <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1519415674111672325?s=20&#038;t=3jGybL0FTI3I5mMXnhHHhQ\"><span>said<\/span><\/a><span> is, \u201cFor Twitter to deserve public trust, it must be politically neutral, which effectively means upsetting the far right and the far left equally.\u201d And <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1516483038242385928?s=20&#038;t=3jGybL0FTI3I5mMXnhHHhQ\"><span>that<\/span><\/a><span>, \u201cA social media platform\u2019s policies are good if the most extreme 10% on left and right are equally unhappy.\u201d That hardly sounds like a threat to democracy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Indeed, Musk is right when he says that \u201cfree speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy.\u201d Or as the late, progressive editor of the New York Times, John Oakes, put it back in 1954: \u201cDiversity of opinion is the lifeblood of\u00a0 democracy\u2026The minute we begin to insist that everyone think the same way we think, our democratic way of life is in danger.\u201d What\u2019s old is new again.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>For my part, I am optimistic. I am hopeful that Musk\u2019s purchase of Twitter will help turn the tide in this country away from censorship and towards a renewed embrace of free speech. But I think we can and should do more than simply place hope in the hands of any one billionaire. That is why I have encouraged <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BrendanCarrFCC\/status\/1509630329178492930?s=20&#038;t=3jGybL0FTI3I5mMXnhHHhQ\"><span>Congress<\/span><\/a><span> to adopt common-sense, pro-speech protections that will promote free expression in the digital town square. Doing so would promote transparency, accountability, nondiscrimination, and user empowerment. I hope those reforms make it across the finish line.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>The views expressed in this piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Twitter\u2019s decision to accept Elon Musk\u2019s $44 billion offer has helped expose this country\u2019s free speech divide. On the one hand, many conservatives are expressing hope that Musk will bend<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":749,"featured_media":1481607,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1464027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1464027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/749"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1464027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1464027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1481607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1464027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1464027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1464027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}