Fighting For Freedom

Wednesday, July 7, 2021

By Gary Bauer

 

Former President Donald Trump announced this morning that he is launching a major class action lawsuit against the Big Tech giants – Facebook, Google and Twitter. Trump is seeking a court order demanding "an end to shadow banning, blacklisting, banishing" and other forms of social media censorship, which he denounced as "completely unlawful and un-American."

Here are a few excerpts of the president's remarks:

"Freedom of speech has always been understood as a bedrock of our liberty. . . It is not granted to us by government, but by God, and no one should have the power to take that right away. 

 

"The founding fathers inscribed this right in the very First Amendment to our Constitution because they knew it was essential to the preservation of our Republic. In the words of George Washington, 'If freedom of speech may be taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led like sheep to the slaughter.' 

 

"Unfortunately, today, this fundamental right and liberty is under incredible threat. . .  Social media has given extraordinary power to a group of big tech giants that are working with government, the mainstream media and a large segment of a political party to silence and suppress the views of the American people."

Trump noted how Facebook, YouTube and Twitter banned any discussion of COVID-19 originating from communist China. Well, guess what? Now even the Washington Post editorial board says it's "time to get serious about finding" the truth. Better late than never, I suppose.

Trump warned that there is "no better evidence that Big Tech is out of control" than the fact that "they banned the sitting president of the United States. . . If they can do it to me, they can do it to you and anyone else." 

Underscoring that very point, Trump introduced several people who have also been banned by Big Tech who are joining the president's lawsuit. 

One is a Wisconsin teacher who questioned the need for children to wear masks at all times in school. Another is a Colorado doctor who was banned for posting a video on how churches could safely reopen during the pandemic. Big Tech also banned two black "Angel parents," whose son was killed by an illegal alien. Their advocacy for commonsense immigration laws got them kicked off Twitter.

President Trump vowed to carry this battle beyond the courts to state legislatures and the ballot box.