Elon Musk's 'Twitter Files' increase suspicion Dems have 'deputized' Big Tech to police speech, warns Bongino
Big Tech's war on free speech is 'real', Bongino argues
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Following new Twitter CEO Elon Musk's decision to release bombshell information concerning the social media platform's involvement in censoring the Hunter Biden laptop story ahead of the 2020 election, Fox News' Dan Bongino warned that Democrats "deputization" of Big Tech is "broader than people understand."
On Friday, Musk shared files with Substack journalist Matt Taibbi, who then publicly shared them in over 30 tweets. The thread included screenshots of emails showing Twitter employees suspended, banned, or censored users from commenting on Biden’s laptop in the fall of 2020.
"The government cannot deputize private actors to do what the government is forbidden from doing constitutionally. You know, you and I talk about this tonight on my show in regards to the Second Amendment, where there's a whole other thing,' Bongino said on 'Fox & Friends Weekend.' "But on free speech, this most sacred of rights, you can't say to Twitter, listen, you need to do this on our behalf and communicate with government officials because we can't do it ourselves and do kind of an end around."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}MUSK TEASES ‘ROUND 2’ OF TWITTER FILES SHOWING COMPANY SUPPRESSED HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP
The New York Times and The Washington Post both verified Hunter Biden's laptop after big tech dismissed the New York Post's bombshell reporting during the 2020 presidential election. (Getty images | New York Post)
Suppression of the scandal was first confirmed when Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted that the FBI approached Facebook warning them of "Russian propaganda" prior to the story being dropped in 2020. Zuckerberg said that "the distribution on Facebook was decreased" and that "fewer people saw it than would've otherwise."
Bongino argued that the Hunter Biden laptop scandal was a drop in the bucket of what tech companies are doing to collaborate with politicians to suppress speech.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"If they don't like an opinion, they'll call something missing context or whatever. And you say, oh, whatever, that's no big deal. No, it is a big deal, because what they do is, it then reduces the reach of your page and shut you down. And if you get a strike you can be entirely demonetized and kicked off the platform. They never do that to liberals. This war on free speech is real guys," Bongino said Saturday.
U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., was seemingly the only Democrat to outwardly express concerns regarding Twitter's decision to suppress the Hunter Biden scandal. Bongino expressed support for the California Congressman, saying that despite their political differences, he would "go to war with anyone" to protect free speech.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}DEMOCRATIC REP. RO KHANNA EXPRESSED CONCERNS OVER TWITTER’S CENSORSHIP OF HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP STORY
"If you want to link arms and shields on the free speech thing, you know that's a fight I'll go to war with anyone with the ACLU, Ro Khanna, Bernie Sanders. I don't care, because you can't have it. You can't speak if you don't have a constitutional republic," Bongino continued.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg criticized Apple for their content moderation policies amidst the Iphone maker's ongoing feud with Twitter CEO Elon Musk (KENZO TRIBOUILLARD/AFP via Getty Images)
"The best counter to free speech you don't like his other free speech. I mean, didn't we used to all agree on this? Like what's happened? Yeah, it's really disturbing," Bongino concluded.
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Fox News' Lawrence Richards contributed to this report