In the latest swift move towards censorship of dissenting opinions, Facebook locked me out of my account on Monday, with no warning and no truthful explanation.
I wasn’t able to post anything to the official “Ron Paul” page, which I’ve had since 2007. In 13+ years, we’ve never had an issue with our content from Facebook.
I think it’s time these platforms have a reckoning … with reality.
After a big outcry by our supporters, Facebook reversed their decision to ban me from posting and now says it was all a big "mistake."
Patriot, I’m not exactly buying their explanation.
I’m worried that we may be taken offline by any one of the tech platforms that we rely on! They have the ability to bring our operations to a standstill until we find alternatives.
It seems like Facebook is testing to see just how far they can go with banning anyone who doesn’t toe the establishment line.
Of course, we’re not the only target and certainly not the first.
We’ve watched as President Trump has been “deplatformed” by more than a dozen tech companies just in the last week, in what looks very much like a coordinated effort.
This is unprecedented.
It’s time to send a message to Congress that we’re fed up with the Big Tech bullies, who’ve benefited greatly from very favorable treatment in Washington.
Sign the petition to end the cronyism that has allowed these companies to prosper while destroying their competition.
The argument that the Big Tech companies are private and can do whatever they want has been used to excuse their political decision making in who to ban and who to allow to continue posting certainly has merit.
But these aren’t just any private companies. Let’s not forget all the government-provided advantages that Facebook enjoys that their competition does not.
In fact, Big Tech has been given $10's of Billions in taxpayer-provided sweetheart deals.
Good Jobs First, which tracks subsidies, shows that since 2015, Facebook has received at least $373,893,630 in state government grants.
During that same time period, Facebook received over $150,000,000 from Utah and over $148,000,000 from Texas.
In fact, in 2010 Texas Governor Rick Perry paid out state money in the amount of $1,400,000 to subsidize the opening of Facebook’s sales and operations office in Austin, Texas.
Facebook has benefited greatly from this kind of favoritism, along with their protection by the federal government under the Communications Decency Act, Section 230. This law shields them from liability in a way that other publishers such as newspapers are not eligible for.
They have certainly abused this protection and it’s time for them to feel the heat from Congress immediately.
Sign the petition now!
Then please rush a donation of $35, $75, or even $100 to help keep Campaign for Liberty online and find alternative platforms, because we very easily could be next.
The targeting of certain organizations by Big Tech due to their political opinions is nothing new. For years we’ve been hearing that it’s up to those who’ve gotten a raw deal to start their own platforms.
And some have stepped up, like Parler, for example. Parler saw a rapid influx of new users when the president’s Twitter account was deleted.
Big Tech responded to this threat by taking them offline completely because Parler had been using another heavily subsidized company, Amazon, to host their site.
There’s something very alarming about this kind of behavior and I’m suspicious about their motives.
Sign the petition to stop Big Tech cronyism.
Because of these developments, we are looking at backup options for many of the vendors we use due to all the uncertainty.
I’m able to post from my Facebook account again for now, but they’ve certainly proven there’s no guarantee that we’ll be able to remain there in the future.
You may remember YouTube, a Google company, was giving me trouble recently as well and started to restrict my internet show without a good explanation in that case either.
We’ve greatly benefited from being able to use these social media platforms, but those days could be coming to an and we’ll have to use alternatives.
These types of changes will have to be made at great expense if they become necessary, but we need to be ready to make the jump if we need to.
Please consider a generous donation to keep Campaign for Liberty online and delivering our message of individual liberty and freedom, which is needed now more than ever.
Thank you for your dedication to this cause -- we are more determined than ever to fight for access to free speech online.
In liberty,
Ron Paul, M.D.
Chairman
P.S. Liberty will ultimately prevail, but not without you and me facing some tough battles. Many eyes need to be opened, and Campaign for Liberty is keeping the brushfires of liberty burning. Let’s make 2021 a historic year. Please consider a generous donation now.
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The mission of Campaign for Liberty is to promote and defend the great American principles of individual liberty, constitutional government, sound money, free markets, and a constitutional foreign policy, by means of education, issue advocacy, and grassroots mobilization.