Republican Sen. Mike Lee said fact-checking is a form of censorship

October 29, 2020

Republican Sen. Mike Lee said fact-checking is a form of censorship

During a Senate hearing on Wednesday, Republican Sen. Mike Lee said fact-checking is a form of censorship.
The hearing was held with the CEOs of Twitter, Facebook, and Google to discuss Section 230 and Republicans' concerns over censorship online.
All three CEOs defended their policies, saying they are intended to be applied equally to anyone that violates their content policies, regardless of political opinions.
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During a Senate hearing on Wednesday, Republican Sen. Mike Lee said fact-checking is a form of censorship.

The Senate Commerce Committee held the hearing with CEOs of Twitter, Facebook, and Google to discuss Section 230 and Republicans' concerns over censorship online. Senate Republicans said the companies had discriminated against conservative views on their platforms.

Lee, the senior US senator from Utah, addressed the CEOs about their content moderation policies, which he said were disproportionately applied to conservative ideologies. He defined what he considered "censorship" in regards to the way content is treated on these platforms.

"When I use the word 'censor' here, I'm meaning blocked content, fact check, or labeled content, or demonetized websites of conservative, Republican, or pro-life individuals or groups or companies," Lee said.

—Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) October 28, 2020

He went on to say that he does not see the same suppression of high-profile liberal politicians or commentators.

All three CEOs defended their policies, saying they are intended to be applied equally to anyone that violates their content policies, regardless of political opinions.

The four-hour hearing was called to discuss Section 230, a law that protects social media companies from being held responsible for content that is published on their platforms. Some Republicans, including President Donald Trump, have called for the law to be repealed, a move that could have severe consequences for tech companies.

During the hearing, Senate Republicans largely focused on the tech companies' efforts to fact-check tweets from Trump that contain false or misleading information, particularly about COVID-19 and the election.

Earlier this year, Twitter and Facebook both began fact-checking or labeling posts from Trump, among others.

Republican concerns over "censorship" on social media were sparked again last week when Twitter limited the sharing of a controversial New York Post story about Hunter Biden's laptop. The New York Post's Twitter account is still locked.

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