Censorship

The murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post, has focused the world’s attention on the kingdom’s intimidation campaign against influential voices raising questions about the darker side of the crown prince. The young royal has tightened his grip on the kingdom while presenting himself in Western capitals as the man to reform the hidebound Saudi state. Saudi operatives have mobilized to harass critics on Twitter, a wildly popular platform for news in the kingdom since the Arab Spring uprisings began in 2010.

President Donald Trump's frequent threats and hostile acts directed toward journalists and the media are not only offensive and unbecoming of a democratic leader; they are also illegal. Although the president can launch verbal tirades against the press, he cannot use the powers of his office to suppress or punish speech he doesn’t like. When President Trump proposes government retribution against news outlets and reporters, his statements cross the line.

The received wisdom was once that a unified, unbounded web promoted democracy through the free flow of information. Things don’t seem quite so simple anymore. All signs point to a future with three internets: one internet led by China, one internet led by the United States, and one internet led by the European Union. All three regions are generating sets of rules, regulations and norms that are beginning to rub up against one another.

Google, Facebook, and Twitter have no incentive to inject bias in their platforms, because consumers across the political spectrum use social media and discriminating against any of them could drive people away. Consumers would be substantially worse off if social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter were broken up. Their value to consumers derives in no small part from the fact that they allow people to communicate with their friends and families with a single click.

Conservatives who celebrate constitutional originalism should remember that the First Amendment protects against censorship by government.

President Donald Trump blasted efforts from social media companies to "censor" controversial messages and clamp down on "fake news," urging tech companies to allow Americans to figure out the truth for themselves. The president's message comes amid efforts by major social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to examine Russian election interference efforts on their sites, as well as moves from some companies to ban right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones from displaying his content on their platforms.

During a rally in Charleston (WV), President Donald Trump railed against social media censorship, declaring he would "rather have fake news than have anybody... stopped and censored." He told a crowd that his administration is "standing up to social media censorship." While the issue has been championed by conservatives, President Trump pushed back against potential censorship of any accounts, regardless of political affiliation.

Hundreds of Google employees, upset at the company’s decision to secretly build a censored version of its search engine for China, have signed a letter demanding more transparency to understand the ethical consequences of their work.

Google is planning to launch a censored version of its search engine in China that will blacklist websites and search terms about human rights, democracy, religion, and peaceful protest. The project – code-named Dragonfly – has been underway since spring of last year, and accelerated following a December 2017 meeting between Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai and a top Chinese government official. Teams of programmers and engineers at Google have created a custom Android app, different versions of which have been named “Maotai” and “Longfei.” The app has already been demonstrated to the Chinese gov

[Commentary] CNN is sui generis as a target of President Donald Trump’s onslaught against the press. It’s a serially abusive situation.