Evidence contradicts right-wing narrative of tech censorship and bias
Over the past year, the right-wing narrative of tech censorship and bias against right-wing content has become increasingly strident. Along the way, its been amplified by powerful right-wing influencers, far-right racists who want their hateful speech exempt of consequences, Republican politicians commanding legislative hearings, and President Donald Trump himself. For media observers, this narrative has become a case study of the illusory truth effect repeating a lie so often that people start believing its true because hard evidence still doesnt back it up.
In fact, the numbers prove just the opposite.
In his opening statement at the April 10 Senate hearing titled Stifling Free Speech: Technological Censorship and the Public Discourse, presiding chair Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) claimed that Americans are concerned about a consistent pattern of political bias and censorship on the part of big tech. But Cruz also admitted that much of the argument in this topic is anecdotal (an acknowledgement that hasnt stopped him from exploiting this narrative to raise money).
As a blog post by the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute pointed out, the anecdotal evidence isnt super compelling. Its true because when analyzed, many of the episodes used to push allegations of censorship or bias can actually be explained through technical arguments in which political motivations play no role. For example, there was furor among conservatives when Twitter temporarily suspended the account of an anti-abortion movie resulting in the account also temporarily losing its followers. Yet the action on Twitters part was not based on the movies content, but on the account being linked to another account that had violated Twitters rules, which triggered Twitters ban evasion mechanisms leading to the suspension. (But the explanations didnt stop some senators from making the same inaccurate allegations during the April 10 Senate hearing.) And while platforms are known to temporary limit account actions after they detect spam-like behavior to stave off inauthentic activity, prolific social media users Donald Trump Jr. and Dan Scavino, who is also White House social media director, have still used these limitations to claim censorship.
https://thehill.com/opinion/technology/440703-evidence-contradicts-right-wing-narrative-of-tech-censorship-and-bias