,
10 tweets,
2 min read
Read on Twitter
Democratic 2020 Candidates Flirt With Unconstitutional Censorship via @freebeacon freebeacon.com/blog/democrati…
They also report that some of them are endorsing the idea that the government should regulate speech on social media companies as a means of doing so. That's bad! That's very bad!
Kamala Harris for example promised if social media giants allowed white supremacist content, "we are going to hold you accountable as a community," but the campaign "did not specify what holding social media companies accountable would look like.
Others are a bit more explicit. "Bernie believes we should not depend on a handful of large corporations to stop the spread of hate in America. We must regulate these platforms to ensure the safety and security of the American people," a Sanders spokesman said.
Would I prefer zero white nationalists on social media? Of course. Do I care when social media companies ban white nationalists? I don't really, no, even as other conservatives warn of a slippery slope
But there's a world of difference between individuals exercising their freedom of speech to convince a private company to ban certain categories of speech and the federal government getting involved.
The idea Democrats are flirting with runs into all the same problems other "hate speech" proposals do. A government that has the power to ban or otherwise curtail white nationalism on Twitter or Facebook has the power to do so for other categories of speech.
What's the limiting principle here? Who's the government bureaucrat or politician empowered to decide when an opinion is "hateful" enough to be worthy of censorship? Who appoints that guy?
I can't believe three years into Trump's presidency, liberals still haven't learned the lesson that the executive power they gift Democratic presidents can later be wielded by a president they despise.
I hope Democrats step away from the precipice. Kicking @GrandWizardPepe off Twitter makes for a momentary and fleeting victory, but the damage to our fundamental rights would last beyond our lifetimes.
