Scientists have joined a lawsuit last week against the Biden administration alleging the administration used social media companies to censor certain COVID-19 information.
According to an August 5 story from Daily Caller, Drs. Jayanta Bhattacharya, Martin Kulldorff, and Aaron Kheriaty joined the lawsuit arguing that Big Tech social media platforms censored them for posting content contrary to the federal government’s narrative about COVID-19.
The New Civil Liberties Alliance’s (NCLA) Tuesday press release indicated that the doctors were fighting for their First Amendment rights.
These sentiments are similar to those in MRC Free Speech America’s recently released report on The Secondhand Censorship Effect. However, this press release recognizes that censorship is not just limited to the account or target individual.
“[T]His state action deprives Americans the right to hear those voices, which is a First Amendment corollary to the right to freedom of speech,” said the release. The secondhand effects of censorship are evident on America’s people. This is what MRC Free Speech America uses to track using the CensorTrack database. Secondhand censorship is the best term for this phenomenon. The number of instances that social media users had their information withheld is called secondhand censorship.
A lawyer for the group claimed the Biden administration deliberately engaged in viewpoint discrimination.
“The Biden Administration’s involvement in silencing the voices of those who have critiqued its responses to Covid-19, through pressure exerted on social media companies, is unprecedented in nature and degree,” Jenin Younes, litigation counsel at NCLA, said of the suit. “The government’s sweeping campaign to suppress the perspectives of the plaintiffs, and others like them, represents the most severe abrogation of the First Amendment in modern times, and we look forward to seeing this constitutional atrocity rectified in a court of law.”
Also last week, NewsBusters reported on the NCLA’s decision to join the lawsuit with NCLA President Mark Chenoweth adding in the press release that the group wants to “restore free speech to the social media platforms.”
“The government may not work through private entities to accomplish censorship that the First Amendment forbids the government from doing directly. This is exactly what the federal defendants were doing. NCLA is delighted to join forces with these state attorneys-general to reverse this constitutional outrage and restore free speech to the social media platforms that are today’s public square,” he said.
Conservatives under attack Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on “hate speech” and equal footing for conservatives. Contact us at CensorTrack if you feel your voice has been blocked. Contact formPlease help us make Big Tech more accountable.
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