New Alien and Sedition Act
On Thursday, Sen. Amy Klobuchar and co-sponsor Sen. Ben Ray Lujan introduced a bill that would make social media companies liable for misinformation, especially misinformation on COVID-19 vaccines [1]. Currently, these social media companies, such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, are exempt from legal action for posts made to their websites by users as part of the Communications Decency Act of 1996. You may also hear this referred to as Section 230. This bill, called the Health Misinformation Act, would make anything deemed "misinformation" exempt from being protected under Section 230. This means that social media companies would now be in violation of federal law if they allow this "misinformation" to remain on their websites, thus forcing them to take actions against their users.
The sole jurisdiction for what would be deemed misinformation is being held by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). This would put them in charge of regulating speech on the internet and allow HHS to determine what is true information and what is false information. Klobuchar said in reference to her bill, "The coronavirus pandemic has shown us how lethal misinformation can be and it is our responsibility to take action." Recently, the Biden administration has been pressuring social media companies to censor false information and has also accused Facebook of "killing people" by allowing this misinformation to spread on their platforms.
I wonder, is it really the truth they are after? Do you believe Amy Klobuchar, Joe Biden, or anyone else in power on the left care about the truth and nothing but the truth? Understand, everybody's got an angle. I want to start off by rejecting the premise, as we always should. I don't believe it is our responsibility to regulate what is said on the internet, at your office, at your church or in the town square. How can we say we believe in free speech if we don't always believe in free speech? So someone thinks there are computer chips in a vaccine. Does that hurt you? Yes, they are likely crazy if they actually believe that or maybe they just have no trust in institutions anymore. Is that so crazy?
Did they care about the truth when it came to the Russian collusion fiasco which we still can't get them to admit that was a total lie? What about the COVID-19 lab leak theory that is becoming more and more likely every day? And one of the worst lies of all, the lie that the violent riots that burned down businesses and killed business owners was referred to as "mostly peaceful". Where is the misinformation? It seems as though power isn't concerned about the truth; but only their truth.
Recently, the Daily Wire came under fire by National Public Radio (NPR) for the "misinformation" that they supposedly spread [2]. Their main concern was not necessarily that they were providing stories with a right-wing bias, but that they were successful. Yes, our publicly-funded propaganda machine believes that it is misinformation to actually report the news without a far-left bias. NPR is upset that news outlets like The Daily Wire, TheBlaze, and Breitbart, "that publish aggregated and opinion content aimed at invoking outrage have also generally been more successful at generating engagement than legacy news outlets over the past year."[3]. NPR is essentially diagnosing why they and other corporate media companies are unpopular. They are untrustworthy. You can't lie to me today and expect me to listen to you tomorrow. When you do so for years, you can't expect the American people to care.
This bill is reminiscent of the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 [4]. When congress feared war with France, the Federalist party feared disloyalty and was concerned that aliens to the new country and Democratic-Republicans would side with France. In an attempt to quiet all dissent within the country, Congress passed four laws known as the Alien and Sedition Acts. The acts raised residency requirements from 5 to 14 years, authorized the President to deport aliens, and permitted their arrest, imprisonment, and deportation during wartime. The laws made it a crime for American citizens to "print, utter, or publish . . .any false, scandalous, and malicious writing" about the government. Journalists were actually prosecuted in America for opposing these laws.
This is exactly what Sen. Klobuchar and Sen. Lujan want in America. They want to criminally charge right-leaning publications and even individual American citizens, but claim their state-run media is the only viable option for news. This is an utter disgrace. And my only hope is that the Democrat party and their progressive masters lose all of the power they have amassed in the next election as they did in the 1800 election. In my opinion, it is treasonous to even suggest this sort of action. How we sit by and allow this to happen to our country, I will never know. I pray the Lord hasn’t forgotten us yet. For the sake of all Americans, we need to end this partisan tug-o-war and unite on the truth. Silencing dissenting voices will only lead to more division and, God-forbid, bloodshed.
1. Brufke, Juliegrace. “Klobuchar Bill Takes Aim at Health Misinformation on Facebook, Twitter.” New York Post, New York Post, 22 July 2021, nypost.com/2021/07/22/klobuchar-bill-aims-at-health-misinformation-on-facebook-twitter/.
2. Parks, Miles. “Outrage as a Business Model: How Ben Shapiro Is Using Facebook to Build an Empire.” NPR, NPR, 19 July 2021, www.npr.org/2021/07/19/1013793067/outrage-as-a-business-model-how-ben-shapiro-is-using-facebook-to-build-an-empire.
3. Richman, Jackson. “NPR Smears DAILY Wire in Article Accusing Them of Misinformation.” Mediaite, 20 July 2021, www.mediaite.com/opinion/npr-smears-daily-wire-by-accusing-conservative-website-of-misinformation/.
4. The Alien Act, July 6, 1798; Fifth Congress; Enrolled Acts and Resolutions; General Records of the United States Government; Record Group 11; National Archives.