Corporations should not tell us what can or cannot be said

To The Daily Sun,

More and more people are acquiring their news from digital platforms, sharing their expertise on video outlets, using Google to search for political topics and Twitter to share thoughts. This change has put tremendous power into the hands of big tech corporations. Increasingly, big tech seems to be advancing their agendas by limiting our free speech. We are beginning to become aware censorship is happening; that information is being shaped, spun, controlled in its content and timing of release.

A new internal Google document shows the “group think” of the Orwellian state is closer than we might like to admit. The document titled “The Good Censor” should give us pause because when governments or corporations tell us what can or can’t be said, we have lost our freedom and freedom is the essence of America. The briefing document contains an ominous look at the power of digital media.

The time has come to consider what Google thinks of the “dangers” of free speech. Apparently, big tech feels it is their job to tell us what we should or should not believe; what we should or should not be able to read. Page 2, of “The Good Censor” says in part, “…From elections and political propaganda, trolls and gendered bigotry, to hate speech and religious extremism, debates about who can and should be heard on the internet rage like never before. As governments struggle to apply existing legislation to the Wild West online, users are asking if the openness of the internet should be celebrated after all...”

Free speech should always be celebrated. Experience has taught us that when big tech talks about removing “harmful content,” it really means censorship. “The Good Censor” contains a main header reading, “This free speech ideal was instilled in the DNA of the Silicon Valley startups that now control the majority of our online conversations…” Here’s a statement by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, founders of Google, who wrote in 2004, “(Google’s) atmosphere of creativity and challenge … has helped us provide unbiased, accurate and free access to information for those who rely on us around the world.” But is unbiased and accurate still a true representation?

We know Google is in partnership with China on projects related to cyber monitoring of the Chinese people for political purposes. What the Chinese government has done in the past with respect to controlling their own citizens has been called brainwashing here. Some immediate questions we ought to consider are: What values are big tech companies importing? How are they applying the lessons they have learned abroad to their products here at home?

Marc Abear

Meredith