Republican Senate candidate Jason Lewis called out Big Tech’s censorship after Twitter and Facebook suppressed a story about Hunter Biden.
Twitter blocked users from sharing a New York Post story Wednesday that contained alleged emails from Hunter Biden. Twitter did so under the guise of the story being “potentially harmful,” and Facebook took similar actions the same day.
After the news broke, former Congressman Lewis renewed his commitment to take on Big Tech if elected.
“With the latest abuse of monopoly power, it’s long past due to end the censorship of Big Tech. They are, in the middle of a crucial election, making what amounts to a series of campaign donations to liberal Democrats. And the only reason they’re able to get by with it is the Sec. 230 carveout they got in the ’96 [Communications Decency] Act, not available to other editors and publishers. That ends when I get to the Senate,” Lewis told Alpha News.
Earlier in the day Wednesday, Lewis called the actions “Soviet style censorship the likes of which our Republic has never seen.”
“My advice to Big Tech? Start censoring me too because if I make it to the U.S. Senate I promise you that you’ll be on the chopping block and will have a lot to answer for,” he said on Twitter, suggesting that the suppression of the story could constitute campaign coordination.
The censorship actions taken by Twitter and Facebook in suppressing newly unearthed Biden corruption could qualify as “coordination” with his campaign. If so- highly illegal! https://t.co/2e34dn3IIi
— Jason Lewis (@LewisForMN) October 14, 2020
The story in question includes alleged emails between Hunter Biden and a Ukrainian businessman, Vadym Pozharskyi, an advisor to Burisma’s board of directors. The emails were sent a year after Hunter Biden joined the company’s board and less than a year before then-Vice President Joe Biden pressured the Ukrainian government into firing a prosecutor who was investigating Burisma.
“Dear Hunter, thank you for inviting me to DC and giving an opportunity to meet your father and spent [sic] some time together,” Pozharskyi allegedly wrote to Hunter Biden in an April 2015 email. “It’s really an honor and pleasure.”
One of the emails seems to disprove former Vice President Biden’s claim that he did not speak to Hunter Biden about his Ukrainian business dealings. Neither Joe Biden nor Hunter Biden disputed the validity of the emails in the article, according to the New York Post.
Twitter went so far as to suspend President Donald Trump’s official campaign account after it tweeted out a link to a New York Post video of the Hunter Biden story. Twitter also locked the personal account of White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany after she posted the story.
Twitter put out a statement Wednesday night explaining that it blocked the story because it contained “personal and private information — like email addresses and phone numbers — which violate our rules.”
“Our communication around our actions on the New York Post article was not great. And blocking URL sharing via tweet or DM with zero context as to why we’re blocking: unacceptable,” said Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.
“When will Republicans learn that Big Tech is NOT their friend?” Lewis said. “If I am elected Senator from Minnesota I will work to break up these big tech monopolies starting on day one.”
In a statement released Thursday night, Lewis called on his opponent, Sen. Tina Smith, to return the $14,000 in campaign contributions she has received from Big Tech companies.
“Big Tech and the mainstream news media are no longer fair and honest arbiters, but instead are acting as partisan activists bordering on election interference,” said Lewis.
“Sen. Tina Smith has taken more than $14,000 dollars from big tech monopolies since getting to the Senate — including $5,000 dollars from Facebook — which I call upon her to return immediately. Her failure to do so would merely be the latest indication of how compromised she’s become in Washington, whether the donors are from Silicon Valley or from multinationals outsourcing American jobs to China,” he added, vowing to “always be a staunch supporter of free speech and accountability.”
Judah Torgerud
Judah Torgerud is a freelance journalist working with Alpha News to keep the people informed and bring the truth to light. Contact him at whqnu@nycunarjfza.pbz.
