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Ted Cruz Says Facebook "Muzzling" Is a "Real and Present Danger to Democracy": Calls on Congress to Solve Problem

Calvin Freiburger : May 15, 2018
Lifesitenews.com

He also offered a possible solution to the problem.

airlift(Washington, DC)—[Lifesitenews.com] Sen. Ted Cruz, R-TX, warned Sunday that the United States' leading tech companies have become a "real and present danger to our democratic system" through their ability and willingness to censor conservative speech, but he also offered a possible solution to the problem. (Photo: Sen. Ted Cruz/via LifeSiteNews)

"At this point, a handful of companies enjoy power that famed publisher William Randolph Hearst, at the height of yellow journalism, could never have imagined," the conservative lawmaker told Breitbart's Amanda House in an interview.

Cruz explained that between "'shadow-banning,' where you simply tweet or post something and nobody sees it," and "favoring views they like and directing them to your feed," platforms like Google, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have accumulated a "level of power that is staggering, and I think it poses a real and present danger to our democratic system, particularly given the extreme left-wing bias of Silicon Valley."

A 50-page report released last month by the conservative Media Research Center (MRC) found that all four websites actively hide or deemphasize conservative content from users, and that in some cases internal whistleblowers have admitted doing so was intentional. It further criticizes the platforms for relying on left-wing organizations such as the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and GLAAD to provide advice and content screening, as well as left-leaning publications such as Snopes and PolitiFact to "fact-check" content.

Facebook, where last fall's changes to the algorithms behind the News Feed feature have disproportionately harmed traffic to popular conservative websites while liberal news sites enjoyed traffic increases, has received particular focus. Last month, Congress questioned both Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and conservative video bloggers Diamond and Silk, whose page experienced dramatic traffic declines after being labeled "unsafe to the community" by a Facebook administrator.

In response, Cruz called on Congress to explore "all the tools we have to protect free speech, and prevent the internet from becoming a vehicle for censorship"...

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