by Katelynn Richardson
Civil rights advocates told the Daily Caller News Foundation that a Kamala Harris presidency could be a disaster for free speech rights.
As vice president, senator, and attorney general of California, Harris supported policies that imposed restrictions on free speech, including: defending a law ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court that forced pro-life pregnancy centers to advertise abortions. During the campaign, Harris expressed support for holding social media platforms “accountable” for “hate speech” and misinformation online.
Jenin Younes, litigation counsel for the New Civil Liberties Alliance, told the DCNF she was “very concerned about Harris and Walz’s stance on free speech.”
“Both sides have shown a disregard for or misunderstanding of the First Amendment, which protects ‘disinformation’ and ‘hate speech’ — despite various statements both sides have made,” Younes said. “The First Amendment recognizes that government does not have a monopoly on truth, as it has demonstrated throughout the COVID era, during which it has been one of the worst purveyors of disinformation in the country.”
During a 2019 campaign speech to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Harris he said According to The Hill, her administration will “hold social media platforms accountable for the hate that permeates their platforms.”
“If you profit from hate, if you act as a megaphone for disinformation or cyberwar, if you fail to police your platforms, we will hold you accountable,” she said.
Harris too required former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey suspended Trump’s account in October 2019, while Trump was still in the White House.
“No user, regardless of job, wealth or social standing, should be exempt from Twitter’s user agreement, not even the President of the United States,” Harris wrote in letter.
As California attorney general, Harris targeted pro-life journalist David Daleiden, who went undercover to expose Planned Parenthood’s involvement in fetal tissue trafficking, launching an investigation into Daleiden and coating in his apartment. She also supported and defended the law that was eventually repealed down by the Supreme Court, which ordered pro-life pregnancy centers to advertise abortion.
Daleiden before he said The DCNF said Harris “is an incredibly dangerous public official to First Amendment rights and civil liberties in this country.”
As a senator, Harris introduced the principle of “Do No Harm” Workwhich would prevent the application of religious freedom protections “in cases of discrimination.”
Harris he said The First Amendment’s freedom of religion “should never be used to undermine the civil rights of other Americans or to subject them to discrimination based on race, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity.”
The Act was first introduced in response to a Supreme Court ruling ruling in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, where the majority ruled that corporations could not be forced under the Affordable Care Act to provide employees with health care plans that covered contraceptives contrary to their religious beliefs.
Harris’ selection as vice president, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, he said in 2022 on MSNBC that “there are no guarantees of free speech when it comes to disinformation or hate speech.”
“The First Amendment does not make any blanket exception for disinformation or hate speech,” Aaron Terr, director of public advocacy at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), told DCNF. “Allowing the government to police public discourse under the guise of rooting out false or hateful speech would open the door to politically motivated censorship, as we’ve seen in countries with weak speech protections.”
Terr told the DCNF that “both major presidential candidates have called for restrictions on constitutionally protected free speech.” Terr noted that Harris has promised to hold social media platforms “accountable” for “hate speech” and disinformation, while former President Donald Trump recently Expressed support for criminalizing flag burning.
“Under the Trump and Biden administrations, the federal government has repeatedly pressured social media platforms behind the scenes to remove alleged misinformation,” he said. “That led to widespread criticism and a lawsuit that went all the way to the Supreme Court. Hopefully, whoever takes the Oval Office next January will understand that the federal government cannot force private platforms to censor.”
Tim Walz: “There are no guarantees of freedom of speech when it comes to disinformation or hate speech, especially in the context of our democracy” photo:twitter.com/4pNBwb8Su7
— Matt Wolking (@MattWolking) August 7, 2024
During the 2020 election, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) engaged in “telephone exchange” in which the agency sent “misinformation” reported by local election officials to social media companies for removal.
In 2020, Twitter complied with requests from the Trump White House and President Joe Biden’s campaign to review the content, According to to journalist Matt Taibbi.
Under the Biden-Harris administration, government agencies have taken broad action to restrict free speech online, asking platforms to remove content related to issues like COVID-19 and the election.
In 2021, the Biden White House increased pressure on the platforms, sending explicit requests to remove the posts and demanding responses when they were not promptly addressed, the court said. documents revealed. White House staff pressured Facebook to censor individuals like Tucker Carlson and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over vaccine-related content.
Former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki he said briefing on July 15, 2021, saying they had been “in regular contact” with the platforms through senior staff and members of the COVID-19 team. “We are reporting problematic posts on Facebook that spread misinformation,” she said.
In April 2022, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announcedthe short-lived “Disinformation Management Council” that was suspendedjust a few weeks later and officially completed months later after a strenuous criticism regarding potential violations of freedom of speech.
Supreme Court held in June that the plaintiffs who challenged the government’s demands that social media platforms censor speech were right. Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote in the majority opinion that they failed to “connect its prior social media restrictions to defendants’ communications with the platforms.”
George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley wrote in column On Saturday, Democrats “have perhaps the most anti-liberty group in any major party in more than two centuries.”
He noted that Harris has “long supported” the anti-liberty policies that Biden has made “a central part of his legacy.”
Harris’ campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
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Katelynn Richardson is a reporter at the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Tim Walz and Kamala Harris” by Kamala Harris.
