2021 -- H 5099

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LC000903

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2021

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H O U S E   R E S O L U T I O N

CONDEMNING THE MAJOR TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES, AMAZON, TWITTER,

FACEBOOK, APPLE, GOOGLE, SNAPCHAT AND YOUTUBE, FOR THEIR ATTACK ON

THE FREE SPEECH RIGHTS OF THE AMERICAN PUBLIC

     Introduced By: Representative Patricia L. Morgan

     Date Introduced: January 22, 2021

     Referred To: House Judiciary

     WHEREAS, Free speech and diversity of opinion is critical to the strength, health, and

endurance of our American political system; and

     WHEREAS, The American public has become dependent on the Internet and social

media for news, political commentary, and sharing of their views. Without unimpeded and open

access to multiple social media vehicles and access to thought leaders and news reports, the

public is effectively being kept in the dark and force-fed only the opinions found acceptable by a

select group of technology companies which appear to have a single monolithic political

philosophy; and

     WHEREAS, The apparent collusion and coordination of the major technology companies

to censor competitors and private individuals under the thin veil of making the Internet “safe”

from political opinions with which these companies do not align, is anathema to our democracy

and to the proper functioning of our representative form of government; and

     WHEREAS, These technology companies are hypocritically indulging in the wanton use

of double standards as they claim to be protecting the public from false and dangerous speech,

while at the same time allowing hateful and violent rhetoric and threats from preferred actors to

populate their sites. Big Tech caters to the demands of the proponents of one certain philosophy

to the detriment of all others, and more importantly to the proper functioning of our society. They

cannot be allowed to continue to stifle the free exchange of ideas online by imposing narrow

opinion corridors curated by the most shrill voices of the outrage mob, leaving the modern

Internet a vacuous monoculture echo chamber, tailored to wooden pantomime rehearsals of

establishment-enforced talking points, but little genuine debate and discussion, with the content

of public versus private speech diverging ever more widely; and

     WHEREAS, One of our Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin, stated, “Whoever would

overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.” That truth was

strengthened by the words of Abraham Lincoln who noted, “Free speech is our wonderful cultural

inheritance as free people, a rare and precious thing in a world of government brutality and

oppression”; and

     WHEREAS, Totalitarian governments use censorship of political and dissenting opinions

to control the dialogue and their citizens. This current attack on free speech, of suspending the

accounts of thought leaders, shadow banning accounts, and maligning opposing views with

“false” labels is a disturbing and frightening embrace of those authoritarian tactics; and

     WHEREAS, Additionally, the sudden and unwarranted de-platforming of a new

competitor by the big technology companies violates their responsibility to the public. By

silencing a competitor, they have maliciously flexed their monopoly power to not only kill off a

competing social media platform, but to also rob the public of a popular alternative choice on

which to participate in opinion sharing and dissemination; and

     WHEREAS, The apparent alignment of these monopolistic technology companies with

the dominant political party creates an unhealthy and dangerous atmosphere that has the capacity

to seriously and irreparably damage our republic. Knowledge, a full embrace of information and

data, investigation of competing viewpoints and robust discussion and debate make our country

stronger. Censorship makes it weaker and threatens the proper functioning of our representative

government, our economy, and our futures; and

     WHEREAS, Free speech is more than a “nice” idea, it is a foundational principle. It is

vital to the proper functioning of a healthy and enduring democracy. Censorship which silences

or discredits all views that diverge from those deemed acceptable to a handful of large technology

companies is dangerous to our American system of self-governance; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island hereby

condemns the recent attacks of these technology companies on our right to free speech and calls

on them to immediately reverse their malign action and instead promote free, open, and robust

sharing of political opinions and opposing viewpoints; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit duly certified copies of this resolution to Mr. Sundai Pichai, Chief Executive Officer of

Google, Mr. Jeff Bezos, Chief Executive Officer and President of Amazon, Ms. Susan Wojicki,

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Chief Executive Officer of YouTube, Mr. Mark Zuckerberg, Chairman and Chief Executive

Officer of Facebook, Mr. Tim Cook, Chief Executive Officer of Apple, Mr. Evan Spiegel, Chief

Executive Officer of Snapchat, and Mr. Jack Dorsey, Chief Executive Officer of Twitter.

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