Episode 3: Is government really the answer to bias in big tech?
Free to Offend Episode 3
Last week, the bias in “big tech” was painfully obvious, as Twitter outright banned a New York Post article that was damaging to Joe Biden’s presidential campaign. Such blatant bias and, in this instance, outright censorship has increased calls among conservatives for government to “do something” about the way big tech is getting in the way of users freely exchanging ideas and information.
However, as Nevada Policy’s Michael Schaus and Robert Fellner discuss in this episode of Free to Offend, getting government involved will likely come with serious infringements of its own on the exercise of free speech—resulting in significantly more censorship of politically unpopular opinions.
Schaus and Fellner dive deep into the cultural bias in big tech, how government actions (including amending or altering “section 230”) are ill-advised “conservative” solutions, and how the tribalism we see in America means any government regulation of the internet is bound to make things worse than what we’re currently facing in the free market.
Schaus and Fellner also discusses Nevada Policy’s latest lawsuit to enforce the state’s Separation of Powers provision, and how political tribalism effects the way people interpret even the most basic constitutional principles—including the plain language of the document itself.
Free to Offend can also be heard on Amazon and iTunes.
Resources:
- Section 230, and how it protects free speech online
- Nevada Policy’s Separation of Powers Lawsuit
- The Biology of Desire | Dr. Marc Lewis discusses the neuroscience of disease
- The Righteous Mind, by Jonathan Haidt
Free to Offend:
A podcast that radically defends free speech by regularly practicing it.
Produced by Nevada Policy Research Institute,
featuring Nevada Policy’s Michael Schaus and Robert Fellner.
