Mollie Hemingway on the Censorship Industrial Complex Attacking Free Speech

The Attack on Free Speech

• 🗣️ The right to free speech is under unprecedented attack, with the "censorship industrial complex" stifling expression and debate.
• 🏛️ Federal and state governments, along with academic institutions and non-profit think tanks, are actively funding and promoting censorship.
• 🎯 Powerful entities like corporate media and the government are directing big tech companies to censor American speech.

Censorship Tools and Tactics

• 🚫 Research institutions like Stanford receive grants to study "disinformation" for use by censorship regimes.
• 📰 Non-profit groups like the Global Disinformation Index and NewsGuard create censorship tools and blacklists that favor left-wing media and silence dissenting voices.
• 📉 These tools are used to boycott some publications while rewarding others with advertising, often giving top marks to outlets like the Washington Post and New York Times.

Personal and Publication Targets

• 📰 Mollie Hemingway's publication, The Federalist, has been a target, facing demonetization efforts after publishing critiques of media coverage.
• 💻 A House subcommittee report revealed collusion between Stanford and governmental entities to pressure social media companies into censoring content, including a post about Senator Tom Tillis.
• 📢 Hemingway herself was censored for stating that the media "lie, they lie, they lie, and then they lie," a sentiment shared by 70% of Americans who distrust corporate media.

The Broader Implications

• ⚖️ The "censorship industrial complex" is a massive, often government-funded industry that threatens a free society.
• 🏛️ The Federalist has exposed this complex and even sued the State Department for its role in promoting censorship tools.
• ✊ Hemingway asserts that despite facing censorship, they will continue to work to stay open, emphasizing the importance of a civilization where people are allowed to express ideas that tyrants may not want them to.