July 29, 2021
Contact:
Sen. Johnson Co-Sponsors Bills to Protect Americans’ First Amendment Rights and Prevent Big Tech and Big Government from Colluding to Censor Free Speech
WASHINGTON — On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), along with Senators Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) cosponsored legislation introduced by U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) to combat the censorship coordination between Big Tech companies and governments across the globe, including the Biden administration. The Preserve Online Speech Act would require technology companies to disclose any U.S. or foreign government requests or recommendations regarding content moderation. The senator also co-sponsored legislation introduced by Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) along with Senators Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), the Disclose Government Censorship Act, which seeks to end the government-directed speech suppression and viewpoint censorship.
The legislation comes after White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki acknowledged that the White House is “flagging problematic posts” for social media companies. Senator Johnson sent a letter to President Biden on Monday urging the administration to halt any actions it has or is currently undertaking to censor Americans’ speech. The letter asks for information on how the administration is carrying out the flagging of Americans’ speech no later than Aug. 9.
“It is outrageous the Biden administration is coordinating with Big Tech to infringe on American citizens’ First Amendment freedoms. Big Tech, the mainstream media and the administration have no credibility in determining what is and isn’t misinformation,” Johnson said. “I’m pleased to co-sponsor Senators Rubio and Hagerty legislation that will shed light on the Biden administration’s attempt to censor Americans’ free speech.”
