Is government colluding to suppress free speech?


Take a moment and read these three paragraphs:
A senior administration official tells Reuters that the Biden administration is asking Facebook, Twitter and Google to help prevent anti-vaccine fears from going viral, as distrust of the inoculations emerges as a major barrier in the fight against the deadly virus.

“Disinformation that causes vaccine hesitancy is going to be a huge obstacle to getting everyone vaccinated and there are no larger players in that than the social media platforms,” the White House source told the news agency.
 
“We are talking to them … so they understand the importance of misinformation and disinformation and how they can get rid of it quickly,” the source added.

It's one thing to have government ask for assistance in spreading the word on how good and effective vaccines are. It is an entirely different matter to ask for help in censoring commentary and opinion that doesn't support their narrative.

It doesn't matter how you feel about vaccines (personally, I'm fine with them and will get them when my number comes up on the list).  What matters is the government asking the media (in this case, "Big Tech" social media, because the regular media will probably self-censor in cooperation) to censor speech with which it doesn't agree. 

The obvious question is who gets to decide what is "misinformation or disinformation?" The government (which we all know is never wrong and never tries to cover up its wrongs) or social media or both?  

The second obvious question is, does anyone recognize how dangerous this is?  It is a backdoor method of controlling speech government doesn't like.

A Facebook spokeswoman said the social network has offered the White House “any assistance we can provide,” and recently unveiled a policy to remove COVID-19 misinformation and remove pages, groups and accounts that violate the guidelines.”

A Twitter spokesman said the company is “in regular communication with the White House on a number of critical issues including COVID-19 misinformation.”

As for the social media giants? They're all in. And they're coordinating with the White House on a "regular" basis.

Again, the problem here isn't about vaccines or what we feel about them.  It is about the government and a portion of media being in collusion to suppress some speech.

It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out where this sort of precedent if left unchallenged will lead. And where it leads is unacceptable and very dangerous to a free society that values free speech.

~McQ

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