This article was originally published by Ethan Huff at Natural News under the title: State Department Pretends to Support Free Speech While Threatening to “Hold Platforms Accountable” For It
The Biden regime is having trouble getting its story straight on the issue of censorship.
On the one hand, the regime claims to want to fight foreign countries that are “using the internet to try to control speech.” On the other, it continues to issue threats about “hold[ing] platforms accountable” for “harms” committed online.
The words in quotes all came from United States Secretary of State Anthony Blinken at the recent Summit for Democracy 2023. Blinken lamented that the internet is “growing more closed, more insecure, more siloed by the day” while also admitting that the spooks in Washington, D.C., are working overtime to boost “resilience to disinformation and misinformation.”
“More countries are putting up firewalls and shutting down access, using the internet to try to control speech, quash dissent, spread misinformation and disinformation,” Blinken complained during the event about what other countries are supposedly doing.
Comparatively, Blinken tried to claim that the U.S. is committed to fostering an “open network of networks that respects democratic principles and human rights” – which can only happen, apparently, by silencing all voices that are critical of the regime.
(Related: Before he was even “elected,” fake president Joe Biden was telling America that he wanted to massively increase online censorship.)
Biden is an enemy of free speech
As part of the regime’s efforts to fight disinformation and misinformation, Blinken introduced a 60-country commitment document called the Declaration for the Future of the Internet that contradicts everything he was criticizing in terms of other countries’ censorship actions.
“We have to do better at addressing some of the risks that come with the open internet,” he stated from one side of his mouth while stating something else from the other.
Blinken says the U.S. needs to maintain a “delicate balance” between “openness and security,” “protecting speech and preventing incitement,” and “fostering innovation and limiting the power of Big Tech.”
Blinken then proceeded to threaten tech platforms that refuse or fail to fall in line with the Biden regime’s demands for more “openness and security.”
“The president’s [sic] … made clear that we need to be able to hold platforms accountable when they fail to address the harms caused by their technology, from the content they spread to the algorithms that they use,” Blinken said.
Not at all a coincidence is the fact that Blinken’s duplicitous statements and admissions came just a few days after two senators, one a Democrat and the other a Republican, introduced the RESTRICT Act, which would give the government near limitless power to police online speech and activity.
“The bill claims to target ‘foreign adversaries’ and is widely thought to be aimed at China’s TikTok,” explains Tom Parker, writing for Reclaim the Net. “But the powers in the bill are so vast that it would give the federal government the authority to ban a wide range of apps and online services if they’re deemed to be ‘national security’ threats.”
Allowing the government to decide what constitutes “misinformation” and “disinformation” is a frighteningly dangerous idea that the Democrats and many Republicans seem to think is appropriate, even though it directly violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
“The terms ‘misinformation’ and ‘disinformation’ should be taken out of the conversation and use the true words that we used to use,” one commenter wrote.
“True information and false information. Lies and truths. These scary things that they call misinformation and disinformation are just woke terms for lies and falsehoods. It’s like saying that AIDS is actually something that makes it easier to get sick. Sanitizing the threats to our freedom is a very vital tool to the enemies of our liberty. And nowadays we seem to be garnering them exponentially.”
Is this why it’s so difficult to get an account and post here on SHTFPlan?