Looks like another Democrat just scuttled the opportunity for conservatives to have a voice on Big Tech platforms.
The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA) was designed to limit the power of Big Tech companies given their incredibly pervasive influence on public knowledge.
As reported by Politico, “The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act … would create an antitrust exemption allowing news publishers below a certain size to collectively bargain with tech giants over payment for content displayed on their platforms. News organizations with more than 1,500 employees … would be excluded from the bill’s protections.”
At the time, Senator Amy Klobuchar, praised the bill as a way of circumventing the power of Big Tech.
“This bill is about protecting local journalism by leveling the playing field and allowing local news outlets to band together to negotiate for fair compensation from tech platforms,” Klobuchar declared.
That’s how she felt until Cruz added a point regarding content moderation at the end of Article 5, the text of which reads as follows:
“LIMITATION REGARDING CONTENT MODERATION POLICIES, PRACTICES, AND PROCEDURES.—The exemptions from the application of the antitrust laws under this section shall not apply with respect to an eligible digital journalism provider, joint negotiation entity, or covered platform if, on or after the date on which the applicable negotiations under section 3 commence, the eligible digital journalism provider, joint negotiation entity, or covered platform, respectively, engages in any discussion of the content moderation policies, practices, or procedures of the eligible digital journalism provider, joint negotiation entity, or covered platform, respectively, with any eligible digital journalism provider, joint negotiation entity, or covered platform.”
Cruz also simplified the text by declaring, “what this amendment would do, is it would say [that] when the cartel sits down to negotiation, it would say ‘we’re not going to discuss censorship, we’re going to discuss price.”
In other words, Big Tech can’t try to manipulate the content of local, more conservative-leaning outlets, as it has with conservative content in pretty much every other endeavor.
Klobuchar, who is clearly as recalcitrant as ever, has decided it’s a great idea to yank the very bill she was promoting, all due to Cruz’s amendment.
Specifically, her immediate response was to “blow up the bill,” stalling its progress once again.
As reported by Breitbart, “Sen. Klobuchar’s response was to pull the bill from proceedings rather than pass it out of committee with the Cruz amendment. In doing so, she effectively revealed that enabling collusion between Big Media and Big Tech on censorship has always been a core Democrat aim behind the JCPA.”
In an exclusive statement to Breitbart, Cruz noted that blocking the act revealed precisely just how much Democrats cannot stand free speech.
“What happened today was a huge victory for the First Amendment and free speech,” Cruz declared, “sadly, it is also a case study in how much the Democrats love censorship. They would rather pull their bill entirely than advance it with my proposed protections for Americans from unfair online censorship.”
Democrats, in other words, are quite keen on media coverage when it is spun entirely in their favor, even if it’s a glowing media report about a 50-car rally during Biden’s “campaign.”
However, little things like a highly damaging laptop filled with all kinds of devious international secrets, which is the case with the president’s son, apparently cannot be touched by any media outlet, lest such stories disturb the plans of White House puppet masters.
Author: Jane Jones
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