Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner Brendan Carr on Friday accused American democracy of relying on a censorship cartel and called on major tech platforms to dismantle the “censorship cartel.” Kerr said the Technology Masters of the Universe had worked with “the Orwellian name Newsguard,” fact-checking groups and advertising agencies to force “one-sided coverage.”
“Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft and others have played central roles in the censorship cartel. The Orwellian-appointed News Guard works with 'fact-checking' groups and advertising agencies to enforce one-sided reporting. Supported. The censorship cartel must be dismantled,” Carr wrote on X/Twitter.
Kerr wrote to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Apple CEO Tim Cook that their platforms are “often used by so-called 'media watchdogs,' etc.” We will work with them to reduce funding, suspend revenue, and otherwise drive out of business news organizations and organizations that dare to deviate from the approved narrative.”
The FCC chief said these big tech platforms participate in a “censorship cartel” that includes advertising, marketing and “so-called 'fact-checking organizations'” as well as the Biden-Harris administration.
Carr's reference to advertising agencies is in reference to GARM, which organized a marketing sabotage against X/Twitter for daring to embrace free speech. It was shut down after Elon Musk filed a lawsuit.
“The censorship cartel is an affront to Americans' constitutional freedoms and must be completely dismantled. Americans must be able to regain their right to free speech. Indeed, our democratic Principles depend on freedom of expression.”
Kerr said “for now” he is trying to get information from big tech companies to inform their efforts to promote free speech. He said Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which gives big tech platforms legal immunity from hosting content and removing content they find objectionable, only gives big tech companies legal immunity if they operate in “good faith.” He emphasized that it would be possible.
The FCC commissioner also requested information about major tech platforms' collaboration with the Orwellian group known as NewsGuard, an establishment censorship group that creates news blacklists against conservatives. Breitbart News has reported extensively on NewsGuard and its critics, including constitutional law scholar Jonathan Turley.
Carr explained:
But NewsGuard's own track record raises questions about whether relying on the organization's products constitutes “good faith” action within the meaning of Section 230. As an example, NewsGuard has reportedly consistently rated the Chinese Communist Party's official propaganda as more trustworthy than the Chinese Communist Party. American publication. Second, NewsGuard proactively fact-checked and penalized websites that reported rumors of a lab leak involving the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). As yet another example, an investigation by the Small Business Commission and multiple media research centers details numerous instances in which NewsGuard clearly did not apply its own ratings system in an unbiased manner. The list goes on.
Kerr said NewsGuard's credibility has been undermined by the now “infamous” claims from intelligence community officials that sparked false claims that the Hunter Biden laptop incident was Russian disinformation. It added that this is because its advisory board retains at least one person who signed the October 2020 letter. A wave of censorship.
Carr highlighted NewsGuard's importance to the censorship cartel and challenged CEOs to answer four questions about how their companies work with news blacklists.
Please provide the following information to inform us of the FCC's action:
1. A list of all products or services (including advertisements, if any) that use or rely on NewsGuard products, services, or rankings.
2. A list of all products or services (if any) that allow users or customers to use or rely on NewsGuard products, services, or rankings.
3. If you provide advertising services, please provide details about your use of media monitoring or fact-checking services, including NewsGuard.
4. If you use a third-party advertising or marketing agency to enable advertising in or on your products, please identify the advertising or marketing agency you are affiliated with or affiliated with. .
FCC commissioners asked technology company CEOs to respond by December 10th.
Sean Moran is a policy reporter at Breitbart News. Follow him on X @SeanMoran3.
