The First Amendment to the US Constitution reads: "
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." This means that the US government cannot abridge the freedoms of speech, the press, peaceful assembly, and to petition the government for redress. But I repeat myself. It is important. Especially when big tech companies have become such large platforms that their censure of free speech. religion and political
ideology
has a similar affect as if the government were doing the censuring.
In a blatant private enterprise attempt to censure free speech, Twitter announced it will attach a notice to tweets that it considers offensive, but "may be in the public's interest for the tweet to remain available." Twitter says, "A cross-functional team including Trust and Safety, Legal, Public Policy and regional teams will determine if the Tweets are a matter of public interest based on the criteria listed above the following considerations..." Twitter listed five criteria its truth squads will use including the severity of the "rule violation"; whether preserving the Tweet will hold public officials or candidates accountable; whether sources of information are available for the public to stay informed; if removal would hide context or prevent people from understanding the issue; and if the Tweet will provide unique context for a broader discussion.
Then Twitter reveals the true story about their free speech truth squads: "
In instances where a Tweet violates our rules and our review doesn't find that it would be in the public interest to leave it up, we will require the account owner to remove the Tweet. Either way, this notice will make our decision-making clearer." Twitter's policy applies to candidates, public office holders, and government officials with over 100,000 followers. In other words, as a matter of policy Twitter is going to allow a special appointed committee to determine whether to allow a public official's free speech to live or die on its platform, which has become the major vehicle of direct communication to the people.
Twitter (and probably the other tech giants will follow suit if they haven't already-can anyone say Facebook?) will attempt to influence the next election by censuring public officials. Who is the public official who uses Twitter most effectively to talk to Americans? President Donald Trump. Twitter is saying if Trump doesn't meet their truth squad's criteria, he will be censured. This is the problem when privately-owned free speech platforms become so large that they can be weaponized for political purposes and impose their own ideology. As Christ said in John 8:32, "And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." Big tech is attempting to suppress the truth to hold you captive to political intolerance and ideological bigotry, and that includes your Christian values.
