Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz is calling out Democrats for advocating on behalf of big tech censorship against speech they don't like or politically disagree with.
"Consistently the message from Senate Democrats is for Facebook and Twitter and Google to censor more. To abuse their power more. To silence voices that Senate Democrats disagree with more. That is very dangerous if we want to maintain a free and fair democracy. If we want to maintain free speech," Cruz said.
"There was a time when Democrats embraced and defended the principles of free speech. There was a time when Democrats embraced and defended the principles of a free press and yet there is an absolute silence from Democrats speaking up for the press outlet censored by big tech. There's an absolute silence from Democrats speaking out for the citizens silenced by big tech," he continued. "Instead, there is a demand to use even more power to silence dissent and that's a totalitarian instinct that I think is very dangerous."
It was dismaying to hear my Democrat colleagues today continue their totalitarian calls for #BigTech to silence dissent and censor more voices. That is very dangerous if we want to maintain a free and fair democracy and free speech. pic.twitter.com/CDwivzcRYJ
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) November 17, 2020
Earlier in the hearing, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey admitted the site's censorship and suspension of the New York Post after the newspaper published an accurate story about Joe and Hunter Biden's shady foreign dealings, was a mistake.