Companies like Facebook and Google avoid prosecution for the content they traffic by claiming that they are carriers, not publishers. It protects them from copyright, libel, and slander suits for the things shared. Section 230 is their shield, but it could become a club used against them.
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act states that “No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.”
But Google execs have admitted that they are acting as premeditated editors to manage the content people see. They are not just a search engine. They are choosing to filter the results through a corporate bias. That’s publishing.
The Project Veritas expose’ (which YouTube censored shortly after publication) has demonstrated this truth and to a political end. Google will use its power as a publisher to limit what people see, in this case, to alter the potential outcome of a presidential election.
Foreign investors in Google better beware. Election collusion is a big deal of late.
Section 230 Shenanigans
If Google is a publisher, it is no longer entitled to section 230 deference. US House Rep. Louis Gohmert is the most recent member of Congress to suggest this is a problem and that we need to find a solution.
“This video shows Google’s biases are now a threat to a free and fair election, all while they hide behind the immunity given by Congress years ago when they were supposed to be a simple ‘town square’ where everyone’s voice could be heard without biased results.
I’ve suggested that their admitting to an active role in the outcome of elections has a more considerable consequence than just their status as carriers versus publishers. Rep. Gohmert has too.
In fact, Google references a significant role they see themselves fulfilling in the 2020 elections. This discovery should set off alarm bells throughout the country. It is no secret that Google has a political agenda. Multiple brave tech insiders have stepped forward and exposed Google’s censorship of content and specialized algorithms.
And there is the matter of Google as Left-Wing Speech Stasi.
This media giant’s ‘social justice narrative’ should distress all Americans who value a free and open society. Google should not be deciding whether content is important or trivial and they most assuredly should not be meddling in our election process. They need their immunity stripped and to be properly pursued by class action lawsuits by those they have knowingly harmed.”
There are various state and federal regulations that (if I recall correctly) come to bear concerning manipulation of election communication and advocacy.
Run Away!
Google’s Jen Gennai and Gaurav Gite, featured in the Veritas expose, gave up the goods. They’ve also locked down or deleted multiple Social media accounts.
Jen Gennai, the Google executive caught on video bragging that “Congress can pressure us but we’re not changing,” panicked, deleted her Twitter account and made her Instagram ‘private.’
Gaurav Gite, the Google engineer revealing the tech giant’s actions to manipulate its algorithms based on its own definition of “fairness,” has deleted his Facebook page.
I’m sure both are aware of the power of a “publisher” to activate small armies of “activists” for or against a cause. Google’s cause is information manipulation. And you don’t have to answer a question if you don’t let people ask them.
Whether that will keep other authorities from dragging them before a committee remains to be seen. But Google’s mask has slipped again. It has proven itself to be committed to using algorithms to act as editors making them a publisher. And we have James O’Keefe to thank for it.