What Should Happen to Big Tech for Their Treatment of Trump?

            Twitter and Facebook banned President Donald Trump after the assault by bad actors on the far right on January 6, 2021. Twitter’s ban was permanent, but Facebook’s ban was not. Facebook agreed to look at the situation within six months, and the oversight board made their decision today. The ban on Facebook and Instagram posts by Trump would continue – for now. However, the board put the problem back into the hands of Zuckerberg, saying that the ban was vague and standardless.

            Kay C. James, President of The Heritage Foundation said that the decision was “the wrong one, and one that all Americans, regardless of political affiliation, should be concerned about.” According to James, 

Big Tech companies should not be allowed to play by a set of rules that give them undue influence over American society while also avoiding any accountability for how they use that influence. It is time for Congress to act and reform Section 230 – which protects publishing platforms from being held liable for content posted by users – in a way that respects the rights of those engaged in private enterprise.

True reform must also ensure that companies like Facebook and Instagram take responsibility for the choices they make – especially when it comes to censoring individuals and opinions they don’t like.

Letting politically motivated companies police themselves as they manipulate civic discourse is not a long-term solution consistent with America’s values.

Whether it’s the president of the United States or an average American citizen in Des Moines, Big Tech should not have the ability to suppress viewpoints it finds objectionable – and it certainly shouldn’t have the ability to hide behind outdated laws in justifying such behavior.

            Woke corporations, such as Google, Twitter, and Facebook, censored the sitting President of the United States. By doing so, they became a threat to every American as well as the America. They should not be allowed to do so. If they are allowed to “get away” with censoring Trump, they will be emboldened, and they may use their power to silence all conservatives or people who think differently than they do.

The ironic thing about the whole censuring of Trump is that the companies allowed regimes, such as China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, to use their platforms to spread their propaganda. They allowed Black Lives Matter (BLM) and other terrorist groups to use their platforms to plan riots and violence. It is obvious that Big Tech is not against evil in itself. Big Tech is against conservatives and will take any action possible to stop conservative ideas.

It is time for Congress to reform Section 230. It is also time for Big Tech to treat all users with “consistency and transparency.” Maybe it is time for Big Tech to be regulated in the same ways as utilities. They have abused the protections that were given to them, so they should suffer the consequences.