(RepublicanReport.org) – There has been a lot of debate about what constitutes online censorship versus free speech. Many conservative voices have claimed they were banned without just cause from social media, especially in the aftermath of the 2020 election. With the 2024 election just months away, a media group funded by liberal billionaire George Soros sent out a letter to social media platforms, urging them to strengthen their platforms “to protect democratic elections worldwide.” Some believe the group is asking them to censor conservative speech.
The letter, signed by a coalition of more than 200 researchers, journalists, and civil society organizations, was sent to top executives of Meta, Google, TikTok, Twitter, Reddit, Pinterest, and others on April 9. It starts out by saying they have “an urgent request” for the “companies to increase platform-integrity efforts.” Such actions will help “protect democracy in 2024” in at least 60 countries around the world.
Such means are necessary, according to the authors of the letter, because in 2020, “people of color, women, and non-English speakers were […] disproportionately targeted with online election lies.” They are asking the platforms to reinstate their election-integrity policies, which include “moderating content around the Big Lie,” as well as moderate election advertising to require a human review of the ads to determine if they contain hate speech or election lies and/or generative AI.
The letter also asks social media companies to “place greater friction to reduce the visibility” of any content centered on the election that has been flagged for review. In other words, someone can flag a post, and the media group wants the reach of those posts diminished until it’s deemed acceptable.
The platform heads were asked to respond to the letter by April 22, noting whether or not they adopted the requests within and giving a timeline of when such policies would be implemented.
Media Research Center, a conservative organization seeking to retain balance in the media, was quick to point out that many of the signatories were backed, at least partially, by Soros. At least 45 of them had received more than $80 million collectively between 2016 and 2022, raising the question of whether it’s concern about integrity on the sites — or an effort to suppress conservative voices.
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