Let’s get one thing straight right off the bat: NewsGuard’s co-CEO, Steven Brill, has openly, and rather boldly, endorsed financial censorship, scoffing at the hallowed American ethos of free speech.
In a recent interview on C-SPAN, Brill took the stage pushing his own book, ironically titled “The Death of Truth.” He couldn’t resist taking a swipe at those amongst us who dare to hold our own opinions, going as far as to imply that this freedom to interpret reality is a threat to our democracy.
But then, who is Brill to decide what constitutes as reality? Sure, he considers himself and his organization, NewsGuard, as the internet’s truth police, battling the monster of “misinformation”. But wouldn’t we be better off deciding for ourselves what’s true?
Brill claims that social media platforms have a right-wing bias, however MRC’s Free Speech America studies show that censorship targets conservative voices more than leftist ones. If you need evidence, just look at the glaring difference between scores given to left-leaning and right-leaning media websites by NewsGuard.
During the interview, Brill flippantly undercut the significance of the Great Barrington Declaration’s censorship, suggesting those who considered the document to be “bogus” were right. However, as the Twitter Files revealed, Big Tech did not merely criticize, they actively suppressed the declaration and its authorsly.
In an amazing display of statement-flipping, Brill downplayed the censorship against the COVID-19 lab leak theory, yet deemed it “totally legit”. Brill brushed over how severe this censorship was and how the left’s refusal to adopt the theory had effects on free speech rights.
Brill’s blunders didn’t stop there. When a caller highlighted a mistake Brill had made on the validity of the Hunter Biden laptop story, he eventually admitted his error, proving his own fallibility.
Brill’s argument that expert consensus should always be prioritized over free speech, and his advocation for financial censorship of COVID-19 vaccine-induced deaths speculation might appeal to some. But his attempts to restrict free speech, suggest censorships, and operate a hypocritical platform under the disguise of truth policing should give any liberty-loving American pause.
In conclusion, we conservatives need to stand against such suppressive strategies. We must demand accountability from Big Tech, ensure clarity on the definition of “hate speech,” and guarantee an even playing field for all voices. After all, censorship in any form, is a threat to the vibrant dialogue that constitutes a healthy democracy. Freedom of speech shouldn’t be a privilege for a select few, but a right for all. That’s what real, unadulterated truth looks like.
