BATON ROUGE, La. (KMSS/KTAL) – Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry and Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall on Tuesday launched an initiative aimed at addressing censorship on social media platforms.
As part of the initiative, the official websites of each attorney general now provide a “Social Media Censorship Complaint Form” for the public to report abuses by Big Tech, according to press releases sent by the attorney generals’ offices in both states.
Following the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection in which supporters of President Donald Trump breached the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overthrow the certification of the election of President Joe Biden, Trump’s Twitter account was suspended, in what some believe was unfair censorship.
Trump’s Facebook account was suspended for the same reasons, and since then, a number of social media outlets have suspended accounts for what they decide are incendiary comments. And the social media censorship isn’t exclusive to the United States. Thousands of accounts were suspended in India just a month after Trump’s accounts were sacked.
Landry and Marshall are encouraging citizens in their states who have been censored online to file formal complaints with their respective offices.
The information provided in these complaints will be kept confidential, in accordance with each state’s laws, Landry’s office said. Each complaint will be reviewed and will be reviewed and analyzed to determine whether the reported conduct by social media companies constitutes a violation of federal or state law.
“From political speech to healthcare research to economic activity, Big Tech has censored content to fit their ideological bents—violating users’ rights to silence opposition, Landry said.
“Social media platforms have altered and deleted content, blocked and restricted access, removed and banned accounts, and more,” he continued. “I encourage all who have been impacted to file a complaint, and I hope this initiative will expose just how far-reaching the suppression has been.”
Marshall also weighed in. “Big Tech is not the Ministry of Truth. It should concern us all when platforms that hold such tremendous power and influence over information wield that power in contradiction of—and with undisguised disdain for—the foundational American principles of free speech and freedom of the press,” he said, adding, “The censorship campaign currently being waged by giant corporate oligarchs like Facebook and Twitter is, in a word, un-American.”
Louisiana complaints can be filed at agjefflandry.com/survey/socialmedia\
Complaints can be filed with the Alabama Attorney General’s Office using the “Social Media Censorship Complaint Form” on its website at AlabamaAG.gov/Censored.
