Phill Kline: To control a nation, must control how it selects leaders, flow of information – Big Tech's done both
Phill Kline, head of The Amistad Project, discusses recents reports that the federal government, in coordination with private entities, targeted an “enemies list” censoring over 22 millions social media post, 20 news sites in 2020. Kline comments that “there is an oligarchy, a partnership between the left and corporate leadership trying to run this country contrary to the basic principles of free speech, the freedom of assembly and political engagement.” Going on to say, that the label Big Tech has used as engaging “in disinformation, is people who don't align with them ideologically. It's not based on what they're saying, it's based on what they believe and that clearly is a violation of the First Amendment.” The director of election watchdog group, says that this uncovering of activities the federal government is engaging in is “dangerous,” commenting, “this type of entanglement where the government is communicating with oligarchs, then saying, what what do we need to get rid of and what do we allow, that makes the private sector an government actor, our Constitution prohibits government from restricting speech, it doesn't prohibit the private sector.” Saying ,that this is how the private sector has gone around the rules, “big tech firms are going to claim is they’re the private sector, so they can decide these things. But no, they're acting as the government.” Kline says, “if you try to, if you want to control a nation, you need to control the manner in which the nation selects its leaders, and big tech played a role in that. And, you need to control the flow of information and what [Just the News’s] article shows is, they were doing that as well.