Posted on 01/25/2018 9:35:28 AM PST by mojito
...It didn’t take long for a report to emerge claiming that Russian-sponsored Twitter accounts and bots were the real driving force behind the viral call for the release of the memo. Without worrying about the veracity of this convenient claim, all the usual suspects giddily spread the story across social media — probably because they have such a deep reverence for truth in the Era of Trump.
The report also prompted Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Adam Schiff, both Democrats, to pull out every fearmongering catchphrase available to demand that Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg perform an “in-depth forensic examination” on the “ongoing attack by the Russian government through Kremlin-linked social media actors directly acting to intervene and influence our democratic process.”
...But if you genuinely believe that Donald Trump’s distasteful tweets are attacks on the foundations of free expression, how can you not be alarmed by a pair of powerful elected officials demanding social media companies hand over information about their users? What would they say if the president had sent a letter to Google insisting they give the executive branch an “in-depth forensic examination” of his political opponent’s searches?
As it turns out, reports today say that Twitter’s internal analysis found that it was mostly Americans, not creepy Slavic mind-control robots, who were behind the hashtags. Not that it really matters, anyway. If a group of Americans have a legitimate issue to rally around, how are they supposed to control what outsiders do? It’s not as if #ReleaseTheMemo was a secret or illegal. Republican politicians were openly using it.
Yet, if Feinstein and Schiff had their way, Twitter and Facebook would have moved to quash the #ReleaseTheMemo hashtag for what turned out to be apparently solely partisan reasons.
(Excerpt) Read more at thefederalist.com ...
It’s the left’s new means of shutting down dissent. Try posting a pro-Trump comment on a left-leaning message board like thehill.com and you will instantly be barraged by people dismissing your comment as a “Russian Bot”. Dismiss the your opponent’s very existence and you don’t have to worry about beating them in the arena of ideas...
The Founding Fathers set standards for an open and free Postal Service to facilitate free speech and the open exchange of ideas.
We can’t allow that to be quashed simply because the 21st. century equivalent is in the hands of private entities.
Conservatives are going to have to swallow hard and regulate these companies.
I agree. I hate the idea of regulating private companies but Twitter and Facebook have become essential means of communication. They can't be trusted to keep lines free and open just because they say so.
Government regulations on speech, printed, mailed or digital should be minimal and not greater than what we now use for the mail or in the newspaper.
The present high bar for libel and slander against those in the news or celebrities should continue. As to a person or news outlet repeating a known lie, they should be cautioned or warned on the first offense but some harsher penalty such as loss of their digital account or even a lawsuit if there is a pattern of that behavior.
No direct threat or incitement of violence, no sending harmful substances such as anthrax or ricin that will physically harm the recipient, no lies/slander meant to harm one’s business or commercial interests and no child pornography.
Astute observation.
This isn’t new. Anyone who questioned the anti-Syrian narrative three or four years ago would get the same treatment on establishment media comments. You would be told you were a Russian being paid to write that the “rebels” were mostly al-Qaeda.
Say hi to Pootie
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.