The Pew Research Center revealed its survey findings on censorship and free speech this week, and the results are horrifying: 55% of American adults believe that the federal government should limit the spread of false material online. Even more startling is how rapidly sentiments are shifting; in a similar survey conducted in 2018, only 39% of participants shared these opinions.
Unsurprisingly, Democrats favor censorship much more than Republicans do. An eye-opening 70% of Democrats say that “the U.S. government should take action to eliminate misleading information online, even if it restricts freedom of information.” In 2018, just 40% of Democrats agreed with that assertion, demonstrating how drastically the party has transformed in recent years.
According to author Alex Berenson’s Substack:
“Almost no good news was found in the poll.”
“Younger adults supported free speech more than adults over 50, but they turned against it even faster in the last five years than older adults, probably because they lean left.”
“The poll did not look into why opinions have changed so drastically so quickly. But undoubtedly constant alarmism from left-leaning media sites about the risks of ‘misinformation’ and ‘disinformation’ has been a major impact.”
Berenson is all too acquainted with censorship; during the COVID outbreak, he was banned from Twitter for questioning several government responses and for being particularly critical of the mRNA vaccinations. Only when Elon Musk took control was he reinstated.
Since then, we’ve discovered that the Biden administration launched a deliberate effort to have him blocked on social media. Is this what so many Americans seem to be in favor of? I’m not aware of a single fact that Berenson misrepresented (apart from the rare error he rectified), but the censoring was more focused on the narrative than the facts because it didn’t support the Biden-Fauci position.
Congress and the media, two organizations that ought to be leading the charge for free expression, have recently taken the opposite stance. Democratic presidential candidate RJK Jr. was the target of a laughably absurd attempt to censor by House Democrats at a hearing on government censorship. This information cannot be made up.
Even though it is a far-left organization, The New York Times nonetheless has a lot of power. Here is the nonsense they said about RFK’s appearance:
“Despite the theatricality, the hearing brought up difficult issues about free speech in a democracy: Does the First Amendment provide defense for false information? When is it proper for the federal government to try and stop the spread of false information?”
The government should seldom ever regulate people’s ideas, is the answer. During the epidemic, the additional issue with this kind of thinking was made clear: who gets to identify what is false information? We learned that the government exerted pressure on social media firms to restrict content they didn’t like, information that subsequently frequently proved to be accurate. Meanwhile, it was practically impossible to keep up with all the phony “facts” that the CDC, Fauci, and Biden were spreading.
As Berenson noted, there is practically no positive news in the poll. However, it serves as a reminder that we must continue to battle for the protection of free speech in our nation.
Author: Blake Ambrose
Figures. But I’d still burn that queer flag, and right in front if you. The red ,white and blue is my flag . I put my life on the line defending it and will again. I had enough of this queer BS. If you defend it your part of the problem that they now created by pushing their queer agenda on us and our kid’s. God is my defender, not the devil like they use. That’s my free speech weather you like it or not.
My American flags every day in my front yard my son fly his America flag and also the Texas flag
Free speech is dead in America, you may practice the illusion of free speech, as long as you speak the Marxist approved speech, if you speak anything else you will wish you were never born! Welcome to your new Marxist nation!
I really dont believe that the percentage you gave were talking about the same thing you are. When I was growing up in this country. The newspaper and media were not allowed to tell lies to the people. If they printed or told lies on air. They were fined for doing so. I believe this is what people are talking about. Why should the media be able to spread something that is not true. Just about every media outlet is owned or controlled by the left. And yes they tell people lies every day. Its how they cover up for the Democrats . Now if you don’t think the Democrats lie to us all they time all you have to do is watch Biden open his mouth. He can’t talk without lying. This just shows that he has done it so much he thinks what ever he makes up in his head is true. Don’t believe that? Just watch if someone ask him if he is a good President. He will say yes to that. When we all know he is even under President Carter. Witch puts him in place as the worse ever president. Now he has been luing to people every since he was elected to the Senate. Just look and see what the oath of office says he will do and protect. He has failed at every thing that he swore to uphold. Just shows how much of a liar he is