WaPo writer accuses Trump of 'government censorship' after backing social media crackdown of 'misinformation'

Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell accused President Donald Trump of "government censorship" aft she endorsed societal media companies cracking down connected alleged "misinformation."

"Amid each the noise, an eerie hush is spreading crossed America. Companies, technological researchers and Trump critics are clamming up arsenic the MAGA question ushers successful a caller epoch of authorities censorship," Rampell declared astatine the opening of her portion Thursday.

Rampell challenged the conception that Trump is simply a "champion of escaped speech" aft helium signed his "Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship" enforcement order, writing, "In reality, it was the commencement of an Orwellian effort to basal retired wrongthink from authorities ranks and the backstage sector."

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She cited the "blackout" of connection from authorities wellness agencies, pointing to the CDC halting its play morbidity and mortality information study "for the archetypal clip since 1952," which she said was expected to person the latest connected vertebrate flu transmission. 

"These actions, among different measures canceling probe grants and nationalist engagements, look related to efforts to expunge alleged wokeness from government," Rampell wrote. "Civil servants person been ordered to snitch connected colleagues who mightiness secretly harbor enactment for DEI — oregon diversity, equity and inclusion — initiatives. An enforcement bid issued connected Wednesday says the authorities volition withhold backing from nationalist schools that thatch concepts specified arsenic ‘unconscious bias.’"

Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell accused President Trump of implementing "government censorship" aft she expressed enactment for the societal media crackdown connected COVID "misinformation." (Screenshot/CNN)

Rampell went connected to impeach Trump allies of engaging successful "speech- and thought-policing, the kinds of actions for which they erstwhile condemned progressives," listing the missive 19 Republican authorities lawyer generals penned calling connected Costco to extremity its DEI policies and insisting Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, "obliquely threatened" Apple CEO Tim Cook on societal media for not changing the sanction of the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America" successful Apple Maps.

"But arsenic president, Trump doesn’t request caller laws oregon tribunal decisions to chill disfavored discourse. Media and tech companies are already preemptively buckling," Rampell told readers earlier citing ABC News and Meta's caller settlements with Trump arsenic good arsenic Paramount mulling a colony to his suit against CBS News.  

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She besides lumped successful tech billionaire and Trump state Elon Musk, pointing to his lawsuit against far-left advocacy radical Media Matters.  

Notably, Musk signaled suing CNN for defamation earlier this week aft Rampell, a CNN commentator, accused him of making a "Sieg Heil" gesture astatine Trump's inauguration rally. 

Elon Musk signaled filing a defamation suit against CNN pursuing comments Rampell, a CNN commentator, made astir him on-air.  (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Before Rampell took specified a staunch presumption successful favour of escaped speech, she backed efforts by tech giants to censor COVID-related "misinformation."

"Misinformation has flourished connected Facebook and different sites for galore years. Unlike truths, lies are unconstrained by reality, which means they tin beryllium crafted to beryllium maximally interesting, sexy, terrifying. In different words, they’re optimized to make traffic, which happens to beryllium bully for tech companies’ bottommost lines," Rampell wrote successful July 2021. "Whether retired of rule oregon fiscal self-interest, tech executives initially said they weren’t successful the concern of taking down contented simply due to the fact that it was false… Intense blowback followed, on with unit for tech companies to admit however their tools were being exploited to undermine democracy, stoke unit and mostly poison people’s brains; the firms person since ramped up fact-checking and contented moderation."

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Rampell called President Trump's anti-censorship enforcement bid "the commencement of an Orwellian effort to basal retired wrongthink from authorities ranks and the backstage sector."  (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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Rampell went connected to mention Facebook's removal of "over 18 cardinal instances of COVID-19 misinformation" and "more than 167 cardinal pieces of COVID-19 contented debunked by our web of fact-checking partners" that were suppressed connected the level aft then-President Biden claimed companies similar Facebook were "killing people" since their contented fueled vaccine hesitancy.

"On the 1 hand, yes, societal media companies perfectly inactive tin and indispensable bash much to scrub misinformation from their platforms," Rampell wrote. "But connected the different hand: Actually doing much to stamp retired this misinformation is challenging. Not due to the fact that these firms deficiency the workers oregon exertion to place problematic content; the existent obstacle is political."

"Now, 1 could reason that these tech firms should measurement up and enforce the moderation policies they deliberation are right, governmental (and possibly financial) fallout beryllium damned. Perhaps these companies could much forcefully rebut Republicans’ claims of politically motivated censorship and 'shadow-banning' by pointing retired that right-wing contented inactive dominates the astir fashionable each time connected Facebook. But if adjacent White House officials look tentative astir picking fights with the right-wing concern complex, it’s not astonishing that tech firms would travel suit," she aboriginal added. 

Rampell did not instantly respond to Fox News Digital's petition for comment.