It's time to hold Google, Facebook, and Twitter accountable for censoring conservative voices, Sen. Jeff Hawley said Wednesday, after a hearing days before on Capitol Hill when he cornered a Google official about whether the tech giant was doing business with China.
"What was really remarkable is that he insisted, first he acted like 'I have no idea what you're talking about,'" the Missouri Republican told Fox News' "Fox and Friends" about the questions he posed to Google executive Karan Bhatia. "Wait a minute, you had a search engine in China for years. You censored results in accordance to what the Chinese government wanted. Why should we believe anything you say now about censorship when we know that you have engaged in it in the past?"
Google's "line," said Hawley, is that it never engages in ideological censorship, but "we know they have done it for years, whenever it benefits them, whenever it profits them. You just can't believe anything Google says."
Google and the other companies should not be exempt from "special immunities" that big platforms get under the law if they are going to censor content, said Hawley.
"They shouldn't get those if they're going to discriminate against conservatives or other political viewpoints," said Hawley. "If they want their special government deals, they should be evenhanded and neutral."
Hawley said the takeaway from the hearing is that Google has not been honest and that there are studies showing it discriminates against conservative viewpoints and against people who support President Donald Trump.
"We can't take their word for it," said Hawley. "We have got to hold them accountable."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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