Sen. Josh Hawley, who sent a letter to Google asking why comments on its YouTube platform that are critical of the Communist Party are being censored in China, said much of the censorship online is directed at speech that "Big Tech doesn't like."
"It's not just censorship in China, they're censoring Americans; Google's YouTube is censoring Americans who are critical of the Communist Party," the Missouri Republican said on Fox News' "Fox and Friends."
In his letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai Wednesday, Hawley called the deletions "censorship at the behest of the Chinese Communist Party," reports Business Insider. Google says the deletions have been accidental and that it is working to fix the problem.
"We have confirmed this was an error in our enforcement systems and have rolled out a fix," a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement to Business Insider.
Hawley asked in the letter that Google explain when it first became aware of the deletions and to explain discussions about the terms. He also asked Pichai to explain if the company or its partners had discussions with members or representatives of the Chinese Communist Party.
The senator also on Wednesday pointed out that Twitter is censoring President Donald Trump after the social media giant opted to put fact-checking links on two of his tweets concerning mail-in voting.
"Here is the bottom line on this," he said. "They get this special immunity from suits and from liability that's worth billions of dollars to them every year. Why are they getting subsidized by federal taxpayers to censor conservatives? We need some answers."
Meanwhile, Hawley said he's "delighted" that the president is planning action concerning China's actions toward Hong Kong.
"They want to dominate the whole Asia Pacific region and then they want to dominate the world and do it all on the backs of the United States taxpayers, stealing our jobs and our technology," said Hawley. "We have got to stand up and say no."
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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