Big Tech was a strong ally of the Federal Government when it came to censoring content not in line with the Administration's interests. This was revealed by Elon Musk through the so-called Twitter Files. It wasn't just Twitter - under its former executive - that examined posts in detail; other big tech companies like Google do it too.
The way Google enforced censorship was by deleting many web links permanently, the Twitter owner said. In an open thread on his social network, Musk corroborated and expanded on Matt Taibbi's claim, who said that "the government was in constant contact not just with Twitter, but with virtually every major tech firm."
Most people don't appreciate the significance of the point Matt was making: *Every* social media company is engaged in heavy censorship, with significant involvement of and, at times, explicit direction of the government. Google frequently makes links disappear, for example.
Most people don't appreciate the significance of the point Matt was making:
*Every* social media company is engaged in heavy censorship, with significant involvement of and, at times, explicit direction of the government.
Google frequently makes links disappear, for example.
- Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 27, 2022
Democratic Party: "if you don't censor more, you will be punished".
Journalist Glenn Greenwald emphasized the threats made by the Democratic Party towards Big Tech executives:
When Dems controlled both houses of Congress and the WH (and Exec Branch), they repeatedly summoned Big Tech CEOs and openly and explicitly threatened them: if you don't *censor more*, you will be punished. And DHS/FBI/CIA applied immense pressure.
When Dems controlled both houses of Congress and the WH (and Exec Branch), they repeatedly summoned Big Tech CEOs and openly and explicitly threatened them: if you don't *censor more*, you will be punished. And DHS/FBI/CIA applied immense pressure:https://t.co/KBMZpFiSzL
- Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) December 27, 2022
"Exactly," Elon Musk responded to Greenwald's assertion.
The umpteenth Google controversy
This is not the first evidence or indication of Google's ability to censor content. In October, the Republican National Committee (RNC) filed a federal lawsuit against the company for allegedly sending the political organization's election mailings to the spam folder of Gmail users on a systematic basis.
Days later, Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, stated that Google had to pay almost $400 million in damages to 40 states across the country as compensation after it was discovered that the company was still secretly collecting users' location information even after they turned off location tracking in device settings.
In addition, a former employee of the company claimed that China's communist regime funds Google in their efforts to collect information from its users.
