Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., after his impassioned appeal on the House floor this past Tuesday calling for big tech companies to end discrimination against conservative voices in the wake of AT&T's DirecTV deplatforming of Newsmax, said Saturday he would be surprised if there aren't hearings held concerning discrimination against viewpoints.
"I'm hearing a lot of people indicate that they are shocked that AT&T and DirecTV would engage in that kind of viewpoint discrimination and that conduct," Buck, the author of "Crushed: Big Tech's War on Free Speech," told Newsmax's "The Count."
He also said he is hearing "a lot of support" for Newsmax and OAN, another conservative news service dropped by DirecTV, in favor of making sure there's a diversity of opinion on the nation's providers.
"We will continue to gather momentum in Congress," Buck said.
DirecTV customers call toll free at 877-763-9762
AT&T DirecTV's deplatforming of Newsmax from 13 million subscriber homes on Jan. 24 marked the second time the service removed a conservative channel in the past year. The provider continues to carry 22 liberal news channels and all receive license fees but has denied Newsmax any ability to receive similar payments.
According to Nielsen, Newsmax is the fourth highest-rated news channel in the U.S. and a top 20 news channel overall. It is watched by 25 million Americans on cable.
He said Saturday he has a bill to ban the Chinese-based video social media company TikTok in the United States in hopes it's sold to a company in the United States.
"It is conducting surveillance on its users," he said. "Part of the future war, and I'm not suggesting we're in a war or an anticipated war, but the future wars will be fought using cyber warfare as well as space warfare and the more information we give to the Chinese Communist Party, the more information they collect and are able to use against us in a cyber war."
Buck added that it is "absolutely crazy" that the United States is allowing China to collect such information.
Buck has also announced a new congressional antitrust caucus he's leading with Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., and said Saturday that the Big Tech companies have turned into monopolies that are harming the American public.
"The big tech companies aren't involved in a free market," he said. "They are monopolies. Google controls 94% of the searches in America and that alone defines it as a monopoly."
Other big tech companies like Amazon, Apple, and Facebook are also engaged in discriminating against conservative voices and viewpoints, Buck said.
"They use their monopoly status in a way that influences elections and influences the information that people get in this country," the congressman said.
Further, Google "acts in a way that tracks Americans' every move," said Buck, adding that he encourages people who are traveling to turn off their GPS service if they use Apple or Google maps, so they aren't giving out information.
"Google controls the advertising digital advertising space … they are in control of digital advertising," Buck said. "[It's] a very dangerous monopoly for the U.S. government to allow."
Actions to Take Now
1. DirecTV customers call toll free at 877-763-9762 to cancel/complain.
2. AT&T customers call toll free at 888-855-2338 to cancel/complain for U-verse, cellular and wireless services.
3. Call your congressman or senator at 202-224-3121 and demand they stop AT&T/DirecTV's censorship of NEWSMAX — ask them to give you a date on the hearings!
4. Go to our online petition and get more info: iWantNewsmax.com.
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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