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CRUZ TO TWITTER’S JACK DORSEY: ‘Who the Hell Elected You?’
WASHINGTON — Senator Ted Cruz on Wednesday tore into Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey over what he claimed was an anti-Conservative bias on his company’s social media platform.
During an often heated hearing with big tech titans Facebook, Twitter and Google, Cruz, (R)- Calif., called Twitter “a dire threat to free speech in America.”
Grilling Dorsey over Twitter’s decision to block the posting and sharing of a recent New York Post report that made corruption allegations against Joe Biden, Cruz demanded to know what gave Dorsey the right to do so.
“Mr. Dorsey, who the hell elected you and put you in charge of what the media are allowed to report and what the American people are allowed to hear, and why do you persist in behaving as a Democratic super PAC silencing views to the contrary of your political beliefs?” Cruz asked.
In response, Dorsey stated, “We’re not.”
“You’re testifying to this committee right now that Twitter,” Cruz said, “when it silences people, when it censors people, when it blocks political speech, that has no impact on elections?”
“People have choice of other communication channels,” Dorsey responded.
“Not if they don’t hear information,” Cruz countered. “If you don’t think you have the power to influence elections, why do you block anything?”
“Your position is you can sit in Silicon Valley and demand of the media, that you can tell them what stories they can publish, you can tell the American people what reporting they can hear?” he said. “Is that right?”
“No,” Dorsey responded. “Every person, every account, every organization that signed up to Twitter, agrees to a terms of service.”
“So media outlets must genuflect and obey your dictates if they wish to be able to communicate with readers,” Cruz shot back.
“Not at all,” Dorsey said.
Later in the hearing, Sen. Ron Johnson, (R)-Wis., challenged Dorsey’s claim that Twitter does not attempt to influence elections with their policies and actions. He , too, challenged the company’s decision to censor the Post’s reporting, as well as Facebook’s decision to flag it.
“Do either one of you have any evidence that the New York Post story is part of Russian disinformation or that those emails aren’t authentic?” Johnson asked Dorsey and Zuckerberg.
“We don’t,” Dorsey said.
Throughout the hearing, executives for Facebook, Twitter and Google claimed they have no slant against conservatives and have never targeted conservative users or pages for their political beliefs.
WAR ON CONSERVATIVES: Twitter on ‘Dangerous Path,’ Could Face Regulation, Says Gingrich
WASHINGTON — After years of complaints by users who claimed they’d been unfairly targeted for their conservative beliefs, social media giants like Twitter may finally be held liable, says former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Responding to the backlash following Twitter’s labeling of President Donald Trump’s tweets about mail in ballots being a danger to democracy as being fact checked untrue, Gingrich said left leaning social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook could find themselves becoming a “regulated public institution” rather than a private company.
These companies are “going down a very dangerous path” Gingrich told Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” on Wednesday. “What Twitter called fact-check is not true,” Gingrich said. “They went to left-wing publications to get a left-wing version.”
“The president is correct,” Gingrich in defense of the president’s argument. “We have seen a lot of theft of vote, we have seen a lot of mail being lost. There are all sorts of challenges with going through an all-mail program for voting.”
“You look at some of these people, and they are totally out of touch with everyday America,” said Gingrich. “I think that at some point they are going to run a real risk of having some interventions that I don’t want to see happen, but you can’t have a free speech dominated by an institution which is determined only to allow [one] side to speak.”
And it’s not just Twitter, or simply aimed at the president, Gingrich warned. “Facebook, Google, and Twitter have a track record of becoming more anti-conservative, so it’s not all about Trump.”
“It’s anyone in America who has a traditional value and a traditional sense of patriotism or a sense of American history,” said Gingrich. “All of them are under siege in the social media groups.”
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