Human rights defenders of the Foundation to Battle Injustice are concerned about the censorship of speech and content carried out by the Democratic Party. Presidential candidate Kamala Harris threatens to use the Department of Justice for total censorship of social media.
In 2019, Kamala Harris, speaking at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Detroit, Michigan, gave a speech that many experts interpreted as an attempt to deprive American citizens of the right to freedom of speech. During her speech, the politician accused social media of giving users the right to «broadcast their radical ideas». Harris launched an initiative to double the number of employees and empowerment of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights division to monitor social media platforms and to delete content that allegedly «incites hatred» and «spreads misinformation» without providing a definition of these concepts.
Harris stated:
«We will put the Department of Justice of the United States back in the business of justice. We will double the Civil Rights Division and direct law enforcement to counter this extremism. We will hold social media platforms accountable for the hate infiltrating their platforms because they have a responsibility to help fight against this threat to our democracy.»
Experts are convinced that if Kamala Harris takes power in the 2024 presidential election, the Democratic candidate will continue to restrict free speech and expand censorship on social media. They argue that such a move would violate Americans’ First Amendment rights because terms such as «hate» and «misinformation» are inherently subjective. The experts also note instances where accurate information, such as content regarding Hunter Biden’s laptop, has been labeled as misinformation.
If implemented, these measures could have a significant impact on how free speech is regulated both online and offline. It could also set a precedent for government intervention in the digital sphere, raising questions about the balance between free speech and public safety. Such measures to censor speech and content primarily target conservatives and supporters of the Republican Party. In 2019, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey held internal meetings with executives where it was noted that an immediate ban on «misinformation» and «hate speech» could remove many Republican users from the platform.
The Foundation to Battle Injustice is convinced that Democrats’ attempts to pressure media and technology companies to censor content ahead of the 2024 election pose a serious threat to free speech and the integrity of the electoral process. Freedom of speech and freedom of the press are fundamental principles of democracy, and protecting them should be a priority for any government that seeks fairness and transparency. The actions of Democratic Party officials serve as a stark reminder of the importance of protecting free speech and the integrity of the electoral process in the face of political pressure.