Cruz: Big Tech's 'accumulation of power' is 'greatest threat to free speech and democracy'
The Texas Republican called for "much more serious action to protect our liberties" from Big Tech censorship, which he said is "right out of George Orwell's '1984.'"
Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz told Just the News that Big Tech's "accumulation of power" is the "greatest threat to free speech and democracy" in the U.S.
Cruz was asked if he thinks the antitrust legislative efforts in Congress related to breaking up Big Tech do enough to address the issue of censorship.
"I haven't examined the specifics of the House bill, but I'm glad to see just about any action against the abuse of power from Big Tech," Cruz said on Thursday. "I think the accumulation of power by a handful of billionaires in Silicon Valley is profoundly dangerous. I think it's the greatest threat to free speech and democracy that we have in this country and I think we need much more serious action to protect our liberties."
Cruz said he would like to see anti-censorship provisions in any antitrust bill that the Senate passes.
"Their behavior is more and more brazen, and they are silencing views with which they disagree," he said. "Look, Big Tech, it was shown, not only have they banned the former president of the United States because they've deemed his politics inconsistent with their own, but for the last year, they've been censoring all sorts of speech, including, for example, speech laying out the evidence that COVID-19 escaped from a Chinese lab in Wuhan.
"I think the preponderance of the evidence has long supported that. I did two podcasts back in March and April of last year laying out that evidence, and yet Big Tech censored it, and now suddenly the evidence is coming out and magically, you know, it's right out of George Orwell's 1984. We're at war with Eurasia. We've always been at war with Eurasia. Whatever the momentary orthodox wisdom is they'll silence anyone who dares to disagree. I think that's really dangerous."