Justice Department to consider allegations of censorship on Facebook, Twitter
Source: Washington Post
Attorney General Jeff Sessions plans to meet with state attorneys general later this month to discuss whether tech companies may be "intentionally stifling the free exchange of ideas, the Justice Department said Wednesday in a statement.
DOJ's announcement comes a week after the White House said it would explore regulating Google and minutes after senior executives from Facebook and Twitter finished testifying before a Senate panel on the companies' efforts to stem the tide of misinformation on the platforms.
Agency spokesman Devin O'Malley said the meeting will also consider whether tech platforms "may have harmed competition" with their actions, a hint that the Justice Department may be weighing antitrust action against the firms.
This story is developing.
Updated Title/paragraphs to reflect updates to story.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/technology/wp/2018/09/05/justice-department-to-address-whether-tech-companies-may-be-hurting-competition-with-alleged-censorship-on-social-media-platforms/?utm_term=.2f31e7f9003d
And so it begins...
The Liberal Lion
(1,414 posts)These contemptuous sons of bitches ought to be investigating how that orange fuck is stifling the free exchange of ideas via his twitter account. Republicans sicken me to no end.
eggplant
(3,911 posts)mahatmakanejeeves
(57,516 posts)Reply #18: Washington Post: White House role in FBI headquarters plan detailed in watchdog report
David Fahrenthold Retweeted:
FBI HQ is across the street from the Trump Hotel DC. If FBI HQ were relocated, its former property could be redeveloped into something elselike maybe a competing luxury hotel. (Article by @OConnellPostbiz for @washingtonpost.)
Link to tweet
bucolic_frolic
(43,206 posts)'Crooked NBC!!! Rigged against me!! I alone can save it!!'
onenote
(42,715 posts)Where is written in the law that private companies can't stifle the free exchange of ideas? Someone at DOJ should go back and read the Supreme Court's decision in PG&E v. Public Utilities Commission.
paleotn
(17,931 posts)mahatmakanejeeves
(57,516 posts)Spammers get all the free speech I say they can have. Which is not much.
cstanleytech
(26,300 posts)government interfering in free speech it does not however provide us with protection from companies deciding to censor us.
bitterross
(4,066 posts)I feel very confident Sessions will be out of office long before he has a chance to file any suit. The State AGs had better be careful what they wish for. They might end up setting some precedents that are not favorable to corporations. That will stem the flow of their campaign dollars.
elmac
(4,642 posts)but boy are they going after corporations trying to stop the overthrow of ameriKa.
Mc Mike
(9,114 posts)X_Digger
(18,585 posts)They can do whatever the fuck they like with their own websites. You have no expectation of free speech in someone else's house. I can tell you that if you're a christian, you can't pray in my house. I can tell you that if you're a republican, get the fuck off my property.
My house (or website), my rules.
Cal Carpenter
(4,959 posts)suddenly seems to look like a good idea to these fuckers.
mahatmakanejeeves
(57,516 posts)A DOJ investigation like this is an unconstitutional effort to intimidate private platforms. Bantam Books v. Sullivan. The platforms have the First Amendment right not to host certain speech. W. Va. v. Barnette. There is no 1A right to be on a private platform.
Link to tweet
maxrandb
(15,336 posts)they'll hold hearings about Hate-Radio and Faux News and "investigate" them for "bias"
I swear they will....
apnu
(8,758 posts)This is more Republican hypocrisy. They're all for personal freedom, until it inconveniences them, then they put on their fascist hats. For decades they've lectured us about how the government needs to get out of the way of business and that the free market will take care of everything. How is this letting the free market of ideas sort itself out?
If Facebook, Twitter, Google and all are engaging in censorship, there are plenty of other platforms to use out there. Plus with the deep pocket funding the Republican party, why don't those soaring minds of entrepreneurship and industry funding competitive alternatives to those godless liberal companies?
NYC Liberal
(20,136 posts)Will Infowars have to allow competing opinions on their forum?