Reaction to a bombshell ruling Tuesday from a federal judge showed that the Left doesn’t truly believe in freedom of speech, seeing it only as a “tool of power” to enforce its dogma, according to Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro.
Shapiro made the comments on his Wednesday podcast in response to a ruling that limited the communication between the Biden administration and social media companies. The ruling came after the Biden administration was accused of pressuring social media officials to take down or limit the reach of posts they deemed to be misinformation.
“But this sort of stuff doesn’t bother the Left whatsoever,” Shapiro said, summarizing the Left’s stance on free speech. “Again, because the principles of freedom of speech are mere platforms. They’re not actual principles that are worthy of being upheld. So the question on whether you believe in a principle is whether when your opponents exercise it you believe that the principle should no longer apply.”
He added that many on the Left only supported free speech if it allowed them to gain power.
“I’ve never called, for example, for the deplatforming of people who explicitly attack me on social media, because that’s their prerogative. This is the United States. The Left [recognizes] no such prerogative. The Left doesn’t believe that,” The Daily Wire co-founder said. “The Left believes that free speech is merely a tool of power. So when they control it, free speech is good and when they don’t control it, free speech is very, very bad.”
U.S. District Court Judge Terry Doughty wrote in his decision that the efforts by the Biden administration to restrict posts during the pandemic were Orwellian. The ruling came after Missouri and Louisiana filed a lawsuit against the administration, accusing it of pushing social media companies to censor content related to the coronavirus pandemic.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, a period perhaps best characterized by widespread doubt and uncertainty, the United States Government seems to have assumed a role similar to an Orwellian ‘Ministry of Truth,’” Doughty wrote.
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The judge said that opposition to COVID vaccines, opposition to masking, criticism of the 2020 election, true statements about the Hunter Biden laptop, and opposition to other government policies were all “suppressed” by the government.
“It is quite telling that each example or category of suppressed speech was conservative in nature. This targeted suppression of conservative ideas is a perfect example of viewpoint discrimination of political speech,” the Trump-appointed judge wrote.