"Infowars is the tip of a giant iceberg of hate and lies that uses sites like Facebook and YouTube to tear our nation apart. These companies must do more than take down one website. The survival of our democracy depends on it," the senator tweeted.
Infowars is the tip of a giant iceberg of hate and lies that uses sites like Facebook and YouTube to tear our nation apart. These companies must do more than take down one website. The survival of our democracy depends on it.
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) August 6, 2018
In another Twitter statement, Murphy applauded Silicon Valley corporations for taking down InfoWars and silencing Alex Jones. "They are private companies that shouldn’t knowingly spread lies and hate. They took a good first step today by removing Infowars," he wrote.
Infowars is the tip of a giant iceberg of hate and lies that uses sites like Facebook and YouTube to tear our nation apart. These companies must do more than take down one website. The survival of our democracy depends on it.
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) August 6, 2018
Murphy went on to chastise conservatives over the public outrage following the censorship of Alex Jones:
Private companies deciding not to let their platforms be used to spread hate and lies is not the same as government censorship. If it feels the same, then we need to ask why a small handful of companies have so much control over the content Americans see.
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) August 7, 2018
Murphy states, "Private companies deciding not to let their platforms be used to spread hate and lies is not the same as government censorship," but conveniently neglects the fact that Democratic politicians lobbied Big Tech to censor InfoWars. While these companies are not government agencies, the fact remains that government pushed them to act. Further, Facebook, Twitter and the like operate as public platforms. They are the modern-day town square, they are digital public spaces. These public spaces may be owned by private companies, but there is a very real, very dangerous precedent being set here: Who gets to decide what opinions can be expressed on public platforms.
Murphy dismisses InfoWars as a media outlet that spreads "hate and lies" but no one, not even Big Tech, has really provided any clear examples of what social crime Alex Jones' network recently committed to incite such a blatant attack on free speech. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has stated before Congress that he cannot define what constitutes "hate speech." This is dangerous territory because, as Murphy himself noted above, a small handful of people are suddenly granting themselves control over what we hear, see and read.
The senator has faced tremendous backlash for his pro-censorship comments:
The survival of our democracy depends on the restriction of free speech? This is a chilling comment from a government official. If his constituents care at all about freedom, they will make him pay for it come election time. https://t.co/r35fzNmb0o
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) August 7, 2018
Countless others have criticized Murphy's comments; even those who don't like or agree with Alex Jones have stated that Murphy's support of censorship is disturbing:
Alex Jones is an idiot and undeserving of sympathy, but this response is more than a little creepy/Orwellian: https://t.co/y3YM9M0VK7
— Matt Rooney (@MattRooneyNJ) August 7, 2018
Check out more coverage of stories about censorship borne of political bias at Censored.news.
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