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Do social media and big tech companies have too much power when it comes to blocking political candidates from using their platforms? According to abill backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, the answer to that question is "yes," a position that has prompted no small amount of debate among state lawmakers.

If passed, the bill would impose a daily $100,000 fine on social media platforms for de-platforming statewide candidates and a daily $10,000 fine for all other Florida candidates.

The bill also attempts to provide equal access for news organizations and political candidates to reach users free from manipulation by algorithms and give users the power to opt out of algorithms.

House Speaker Chris Sprowls, a supporter of the legislation, also spoke out about the bill during the news conference, saying how it would let Florida take back the virtual public square as a place where information and ideas can flow freely.

However, not all House members agree.

Were going to pass something that we have very strong reason to think is unconstitutional, Rep. Joe Geller, D-Aventura, said during a House Appropriations Committee hearing. Ultimately, were probably going to lose, and the people who are going to pay are really not us sitting at these tables; its going to be the taxpayers.

The main concern if the bill is passed is that it could infringe on companies right to free speech by regulating the content they publish, possibly violating the First Amendment.

However, the bills primary sponsor, Commerce Committee Chair Blaise Ingoglia, says that the bill would do more good than harm.

The bill, which the House Appropriations Committee cleared by a 19-8 vote, is now being reviewed by the House Judiciary Committee.

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Florida Big Tech Censorship Bill Takes Another Step Forward - Government Technology

Rose McGowan is accusing Twitter of trying to censor her after the social media giant suspended her account for what it said was a violation of itsnon-consensual nudity policy in a tweet slamming Vice President Harris and former President Clinton,Fox New reports.

"What are you so afraid of Jack Dorsey, a little freedom of speech?" McGowan said a video response shared by RT.com Tuesday in which she calls out the Twitter CEO for her suspension from his social media platform. "I know Twitter is trying to silence me, and I know a lot of powerful Democrats are behind it."

Activist, author, and artist Rose McGowan has had her Twitter account suspended, over a tweet she posted about Jeffrey Epstein and President Bill ClintonWilliam (Bill) Jefferson ClintonNew York Democrat calls on White House to reverse 'old school' marijuana policy while admitting own past use Bill Clinton on Georgia's new voting restrictions: 'An attack on our democracy' Harris hails child tax credit during interview with Bill Clinton MORE pic.twitter.com/V2NmM9ZQld

The activist andactor had taken to Twitter to condemn Harris prior to the vice president's appearance atthe Clinton Global Initiative summit for a speaking engagement focused on women empowerment last week.Clinton, she pointed out, has been accused of sexual misconduct.

"This is obscene@KamalaHarris," McGowan tweeted at Harrison March 25, a day before the event, according to Fox News. "You speaking with Bill Clinton about empowering women & girls is disgusting. Have you no soul? Have you no ethics? Ask him about being on an island of human trafficking victims 27 times. You are showing us exactly who you are."

The tweet referenced a claim from former Clinton confidant Doug Band, whoalleged in December that he had visited Jeffrey Epstein's "pedophile" island in 2003. Clinton has denied ever stepping foot on the island.

McGowan was suspended from Twitter over themessage, which featured a realistic piece of artwork byBritish artist Alison Jackson depictingClinton receiving a massage from an unknown woman.The social media site flagged the tweet as being a violation of itsnon-consensual nudity policy, Fox New reports.

"Let me speak," McGowan concluded her video retort. "I am more dangerous if you silence me."

McGowan is one of the women who accuseddisgracedHollywood producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault.

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Rose McGowan accuses Twitter of censorship over Clinton tweet | TheHill - The Hill

By Dom Serafini

The late U.S. president Ronald Reagan used to tell and retell a joke about an American bragging to a Russian about the fact that he could pay a visit to him at the White House, and banging his fists on his table, tell him, Mr. President I dont like the way youre running our country. The Russian answered that he too can go to the Kremlin and tell Mikhail Gorbachev, Mr. President, I dont like the way Reagan is running his country.

The point of the joke is that in Russia then and now there is no liberty, no democracy, and no freedom of speech.

Indeed, Americans and Europeans alike like to think that they live in states where freedom of the press and freedom of expression are observed. On the other hand, Russians, Chinese people, and Iranians, just to name a few, live under dictatorships, otherwise called authoritarian states, with no freedom of the press, of liberty, or of expression.

While people in democratic states think they enjoy free press, those in authoritarian states know that their media is controlled, and thus, those who can, tend to follow the media imported (mostly illegally) from democratic states, believing that it is fair and balanced. At least this is what happened years ago. Today, however, people in authoritarian states are starting to believe that even the so-called free press is biased, full of fake news, and most importantly, censored and full of propaganda (read advertising) that determines elections and public policies.

Trying to look impartially at various forms of censorship we can identify five forms of widely used censorship: State Censorship, Corporate Censorship, Social Censorship, Privacy Laws, and Libel Laws.

State Censorship is what is practiced in countries like Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, and the like. In these states, censorship takes different forms, like direct and indirect media ownership, and various strategies such as restricting news and conditioning news. It even extends to film, theater, and text messaging. In China, for example, a department of the Chinese Communist Party (one of the countrys multiple censorship organs) employs two million people to monitor and censor content.

In democracies, censorship takes different forms, but at all levels it begins with self-censorship and denying access, keeping in mind that, by definition, an editor cannot be impartial.

Then there is the so-called Corporate Censorship, where corporate owners of media control the news by selecting those who report it, by establishing an editorial line (e.g., progressive or conservative), and by limiting access to only those who reflect their values. Corporate Censorship tends to take guidance from governments, especially with regard to foreign policies. The most recent examples come from the Iraqi War, the Syrian War, and the bias towards authoritarian states. Corporate Censorship is a topic widely discussed in academia and explained in books such as Puerto Rican scholar Giannina Braschs United States of Banana. In addition, in the U.S., the First Amendment protects against censorship from the government, but does not protect against Corporate Censorship or from non-public outrages, like hate speech.

Social Censorship is now emerging in established democracies, which is enforced by the sarcastically called Political Correct Police Force, and complemented by advocates of Cancel Culture. Left-leaning influential groups have the power to fire people, embarrass noncompliant individuals, and discredit those who deviate from the sanctioned school of thought.

Additionally, in countries like Italy, for example, censorship is widely applied by threating libel suits, which could threaten the survival of small publications. Italy is also unique because most professional journalists are licensed by the state. Plus, like in authoritarian states, defamation is a criminal offense in Italy. (In the U.S., its a civil issue.)

In China, defamation is used to prosecute people for having slandered the people of China, by expressing views not in accordance with the government mandates.

Finally, democracies especially those in Western Europe have strict privacy laws, which tend to protect the rich and powerful, who have lots to hide from the public.

Illustration by Bill Kerr licensed underCC BY-SA 2.0.

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The Age of Censorship VideoAge International - videoageinternational.net

YouTube has rejected a proposal from within the company to remove a video by successful Los Angeles rapper YG, which features lyrics about targeting Asian neighbourhoods for robbery.

Employees had requested the 2014 track, Meet the Flockers, be removed, following the 16 March shooting in Atlanta that killed eight people, six of them Asian women, as well as a wider wave of anti-Asian hate crime in the US.

The track begins with the lines: First, you find a house and scope it out / find a Chinese neighbourhood, cause they dont believe in bank accounts.

In an internal email reported by Bloomberg, two executives wrote: Our hate speech policy prohibits content promoting violence or hatred against protected groups, for attributes like race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and expression In this case, this video receives an EDSA [Educational, Documentary, Scientific or Artistic] exception as a musical performance.

The executives, anonymised by Bloomberg on security grounds, said they find this video to be highly offensive and understand it is painful for many to watch especially given the ongoing violence against the Asian community, but wanted to avoid setting a precedent that may lead to us having to remove a lot of other music on YouTube.

YG, who has scored five US Top 10 albums since 2014, has not commented on the decision.

The track has previously been criticised by Jane Kim, a San Francisco politician who called for it to be banned in 2016.

See original here:
YouTube rejects internal request to censor rapper YG over robbery lyrics - The Guardian

After Rep. Matt Gaetz accused a Florida lawyer of a $25 million extortion scheme to make sex trafficking allegations disappear, Republicans on and off Capitol Hill on Wednesday largely kept their mouths shut.

Gaetzthe Trump-loving, Fox News-grinning, 38-year-old Florida Republicanhas a less-than-sterling reputation among his congressional colleagues. More than a half-dozen lawmakers have spoken to these reporters about his love of alcohol and illegal drugs, as well as his proclivity for younger women. Its well-known among Republican lawmakers that Gaetz was dating a college studentone over the age of consentin 2018. She came to Washington as an intern.

In response to these allegations and a question about whether he had ever had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old while in Congress, Gaetz told The Daily Beast late Wednesday night:

The last time I had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old, I was 17. As for the Hill, I know I have many enemies and few friends. My support generally lies outside of Washington, D.C., and I wouldnt have it any other way.

As for his few friends in Washington, The Daily Beast found that to be true. One former GOP staffer said Wednesday that their office had an informal rule to not allow their member to appear next to Gaetz during TV hits, fearful of the inevitable scandal that would come out one day.

On Tuesday, it might finally have dropped.

According to The New York Times, Gaetz is under investigation by the Justice Department for potentially having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl. While Gaetz has denied the existence of a 17-year-old lover, hes been less offended about the suggestion that hes dated women much younger than him while in Congress. And hes openly admitted that hes paid for flights and hotels for women to visit him.

Ive been, you know, generous as a partner, Gaetz said Tuesday.

Now, Gaetz may be finding generosity in short supply among his colleagues. Only two House Republicans jumped to his defense on Wednesday: Judiciary Committee ranking Republican Jim Jordan (R-OH), who himself has been accused of turning a blind eye to sexual assault; and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who has repeatedly boosted the QAnon conspiracy theory accusing Democrats of abusing children.

While Greene compared the Gaetz allegations to a witch hunt and the conspiracy theories and lies like Trump/Russia collusion, Jordan was more muted. I believe Matt Gaetz, he said in a statement to CNN.

GOP aides noted to The Daily Beast that Jordan has been one of Gaetzs closest allies in Congressand the most he would offer was that tepid statement and his support for Gaetz staying on the Judiciary Committee.

I dont think a lot of people are going to go out of their way to defend him, especially with this outlandish-sounding defense.

More importantly, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) wasnt exactly jumping to Gaetzs corner.

McCarthy said on Fox News that he wanted to wait for the facts before meting out any punishment, like removing Gaetz from committees, but the GOP leader also offered that, If it comes out to be true, yes, we would remove him.

Those are serious implications, McCarthy said.

It was not surprising to some observers that the wagons didnt circle around Gaetz in the explosive 24 hours after the scandal, even as the congressman produced documents that lent some weight to his extortion claims. I dont think a lot of people are going to go out of their way to defend him, especially with this outlandish-sounding defense, one GOP staffer said. I dont think youll find a lot of people who are desperate to keep him involved in Republican politics.

The cartoonishly scandalous perception of Gaetz is so commonplace that sometimes its visible, literally, in the halls of Congress. A Hill source sent The Daily Beast a photo of a trash bin outside Gaetz's office as lawmakers cleared out their offices at the end of a recent session. At the top of the heap was an empty Costco-size box of Bareskin Trojan condoms.

While hes openly courted a number of women in Washington, Gaetz has not exactly made it a priority to court fellow lawmakers since arriving in Congress in 2017. He even wears his reluctance to win friends and influence GOP lawmakers as a badge of honor.

I dont really socialize with my colleagues, Gaetz said in a 2019 profile in BuzzFeed News.

One person he does actively socialize with is the 45th president. He proved quick to defend Donald Trump at nearly every opportunity, yes, but even quicker to criticize his GOP colleagues for insufficient Trump support. At the same time, hes also run afoul of Trump: he was reportedly iced out of the White House in 2020 when he backed a resolution curbing the presidents ability to wage war with Iran, after Democrats said they would give Gaetz a vote on one of his amendments if he would support the overall war powers bill.

The rift was short-lived, however, as Trump looked for Capitol Hill allies during the early days of the COVID crisis and Gaetz was more than happy to defend the president.

His desire to be on TV most days of the week has shown lawmakers what Matt Gaetzs primary goal is in Congress: the promotion of Matt Gaetz. He rarely partners with colleagues on bills and has yet to see any legislation he authored become law. Constant rumors about his ambition to seek higher office in Floridaor even Alabamaunderscored the perception he didnt prioritize the job.

Even the Republican Party doesnt like him very much.

Four years into his House career, Gaetzs theatrics have put off Democrats and Republicans alike. His visit to Wyoming in February to host a rally condemning House GOP Conference Chair Liz Cheney (R-WY) for her vote to impeach Trump rubbed many the wrong way, even if they opposed Cheneys vote.

Even the Republican Party doesnt like him very much, said a Republican operative familiar with the Florida congressional delegation.

Still, Gaetz does have alliestheyre just less interested in defending him at the moment than they are in attacking the media.

Reached by phone on Wednesday, Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and GOP presidential candidate, said he thinks the New York Times is a joke and has no confidence in their reporting. Huckabee was an early backer of Gaetzshe hosted a fundraiser for the congressman in 2018 at his beach home not far from the congressmans hometownand is reportedly close with his family.

He said it didnt happen, Huckabee told The Daily Beast. Until proven otherwise, I think he deserves the same consideration of the presumption of innocence and due process as anybody else.

Back home in Gaetzs deep red Florida district, the story is also landing with a skeptical audience. John Roberts, the chair of the Escambia County Republican Party, said he doubted any reporting from the Times and other mainstream media after the Trump era. Republicans arent here saying, Oh dear whats happening, Roberts told The Daily Beast. Everyones like, Oh, another smear job.

But even Robertswho leads the GOP organization in the largest county in the district where Gaetz and his father, former state Sen. Don Gaetz, have been fixtures for decadesclaimed he did not personally know the congressman, saying he has talked with him a few times briefly.

Weve been very supportive of him politically. Im just very skeptical of this whole thing, Roberts said.

The most deafening silence, though, is that of another Florida resident: the former president.

Gaetz is perhaps Trumps biggest defender in Congress. In February, Gaetz offered to resign his office if it meant he got the opportunity to defend the ex-president at his impeachment trial. And a story where the New York Times attacks a GOP politicianwhen that politician is actually the victimalmost seems made for Trump.

But so far, the ex-president has remained on the sidelines, waiting to see what comes out next. So has his son, Don Jr., who is an influential Gaetz ally, too. He has tweeted numerous times since Tuesday evening, but offered no defense of the congressman.

As much as Trump would probably like to slam the media for allegedly inaccurate and irresponsible reporting, it appears hes unwilling to attach his name to Gaetz right now the way that Gaetz has attached his name to Trumps.

See original here:
Republicans Have Been Waiting for a Matt Gaetz Scandal to Break - The Daily Beast