(Article by Cassandra Fairbanks republished from TheGatewayPundit.com)
Rep. Gabbard recently filed a $50 million lawsuit against Google for censoring her campaign’s ability to buy ads following the first Democratic primary debate when she was the most searched candidate.
“Join me in this fight to end big tech monopolies power to censor & undermine Americans’ freedom of speech—because whether we are progressives or conservatives, left or right, if we do not stand united to protect our freedoms, we all lose,” Rep. Gabbard tweeted.
[embed]https://twitter.com/TulsiGabbard/status/1155914753652318215[/embed]
In the powerful video, Rep. Gabbard called the ability of tech companies to censor non-violent political speech a “direct threat to our democracy.”
“Over the last two decades, technology has completely revolutionized how we as a society communicate. An enormous amount of public discourse now happens over the internet, where a very select handful of corporations yield tremendous power over your access to information,” Rep. Gabbard explained.
Referring to Google and Facebook, Rep. Gabbard pointed out that these two companies control the vast majority of internet searches.
“These two technology conglomerates, without any oversight, can decide who and what is seen or heard. They have banned voices, who, while controversial and maybe even distasteful, have not incited violence or threatened others,” Rep. Gabbard continued. “Their sole offense was expressing a view that these corporations deemed unacceptable.”
Rep. Gabbard concluded the video by calling on people from the left and right to unite to fight for the freedom of speech before we “all lose.”
Last week, Rep. Gabbard announced that she is suing Google for their censorship.
Google had suspended the campaign’s advertising account for six hours from June 27th into June 28, immediately following the debate while searches for her were trending.
[embed]https://twitter.com/GoogleTrends/status/1144084843115896832[/embed]
The lawsuit was filed in a Los Angeles federal court on Thursday. They are seeking an injunction against Google to prevent them from continuing to meddle in the election and damages of at least $50 million.
“Google’s discriminatory actions against my campaign are reflective of how dangerous their complete dominance over internet search is, and how the increasing dominance of big tech companies over our public discourse threatens our core American values,” Rep. Gabbard said in a statement to the Times. “This is a threat to free speech, fair elections, and to our democracy, and I intend to fight back on behalf of all Americans.”
The lawsuit also alleges that Google is sending their campaign emails to people’s spam folders at “a disproportionately high rate” compared to other campaigns.
“Google’s arbitrary and capricious treatment of Gabbard’s campaign should raise concerns for policymakers everywhere about the company’s ability to use its dominance to impact political discourse, in a way that interferes with the upcoming 2020 presidential election,” the lawsuit said. “To this day, Google has not provided a straight answer — let alone a credible one — as to why Tulsi’s political speech was silenced when millions of people wanted to hear from her.”
Rep. Gabbard, a veteran, has broad appeal across party lines for her staunch anti-war and anti-censorship platform. She faces pushback from many establishment Democrats due to her blasting the party in 2016 for rigging the primaries in favor of Hillary Clinton.