DeSantis promises to end corporate-government censorship if elected president
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (FLV) – Gov. Ron DeSantis promised to end government-corporate censorship if elected president.
“Government cannot be allowed to collude with big corporations to censor information from the public,” DeSantis said. “The more we learn about examples like this, the more we know just how bad it has gotten.”
“As president, I will end the censorship regime once and for all.”
The comments follow a report from the Wall Street Journal citing Facebook erasing content from its platform regarding COVID-19 amidst pressure from the Biden administration.
One point of emphasis on deletion was the belief that virus was man-made or manufactured.
The origin of the matter traces back to the spring and summer of 2021 during the coronavirus pandemic. At that time, the White House was advocating for Americans to get vaccinated utilizing social media platforms.
WSJ detailed a more vigorous push by the government to showcase pro-vaccine related content on Facebook.
“We were under pressure from the administration and others to do more,” a Facebook vice president said to the journal in response to the governments demands. “We shouldn’t have done it.”
The White House claimed its objective was to promote the vaccine and other health related measures.
Emails obtained by the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee were the first to bring the issue to light.
Facebook has maintained that its content moderation is without bias or political lean.
DeSantis has been frequently outspoken about “Big Tech” censorship, recently signing into law a “Digital Bill of Rights.”
The law prevents government-led censorship by prohibiting state or local government employees from colluding with Big Tech companies to censor protected speech, among other provisions.
“This empowers Floridians. You are not just going to be at the mercy of a big brother looking over everything you do and collecting all the information about you without your consent,” DeSantis said at the time.
