Big tech trampling on first amendment rights

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Madison Schermer, Assistant Opinion Editor

 

In the midst of one of the most critical elections in history, big tech companies such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook are censoring posts and locking accounts that cast Democratic politicians, their policies, and activities in a negative light.

Conservative citizens and politicians across the nation are abuzz with concern regarding the events of the past week. Social media platforms are actively suppressing stories that expose the misdeeds of influential liberals. Last week, the New York Post attempted to bring new details of Hunter Biden’s sketchy business dealings with Ukraine and China to the public’s attention. When the New York Post tried to release this story, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram prevented the information from being released on their platforms and locked the newspaper’s account. According to Rachel Alexander, the editor of the Intellectual Conservative, “Big tech is now starting to label regular conservative viewpoints as false and using that as justification to censor and even permanently ban us.”

I have experienced this violation of Constitutional rights firsthand. This past week I posted something to my Instagram story about the Biden campaign’s support for late-term abortion. Biden and Harris have each sponsored bills including “Women’s Health Protection Act” that keep late-term abortion legal even if the Supreme Court were to change its mind. After making my post, I was reported over 15 times and eventually banned from my account for violating Instagram’s bullying and harassment guidelines and having “false information” posted to my account. According to the National Review, everything I posted was true, but Instagram still censored it. 

Suppressing conservative speech and viewpoints is a serious issue that everyone should be concerned about, regardless of their political party. Just because you disagree with someone’s point of view doesn’t give you the right to censor their speech. When the Founding Fathers drafted the Bill of Rights, they didn’t intend for the privilege of free speech to only apply to one political party or popular ideas. Our Constitution allows us the freedom of speech and expression for everyone. Sadly, big tech companies are trampling on our rights and censoring our speech. 

In less than two weeks, our nation will head to the polls to re-elect or elect our next president. Regardless of who wins, all Americans deserve to have the opportunity to speak their minds in the public square. If someone is standing on the street corner, lawfully proclaiming their concerns with a candidate and their policy positions, we won’t allow someone to walk up to them and unlawfully silence their speech. Likewise, we should not tolerate it when big tech tries to take similar actions in the virtual domain. While we all may not agree on every issue, I hope we can all agree that the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech is a right worth protecting. No company, regardless of how rich and powerful they are, should be allowed to infringe on citizens’ rights.