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Good morning! I know what you are thinking…newsletters in back-to-back days! Christmas came early! You’re welcome. 🙂
A few years ago one of the major issues discussed at the state level was how Iowa could defend its citizens against Big Tech Censorship. Former State Sen. Jake Chapman, who was an absolute conservative titan, led the charge and got legislation passed in the Iowa Senate that would have leveraged certain tax incentives used by Facebook and Google and other Big Tech companies for Iowa operations if they didn’t stop the censorship of Iowans.
After passing the Iowa Senate, it died a slow and painful death in the Iowa House of Representatives. While Google and Facebook are donors to Iowa House Republicans, we like to think their donations weren’t the reason why the House allowed the bill to die. But it’s worth highlighting that both companies donate to House Republican efforts.
The House had a companion bill that advanced through the Judiciary Committee, but it was amended in committee to protect only elected officials. To this day I cannot believe that happened. And I cannot believe “The People” didn’t raise more of a stink about it.
This issue obviously impacts The Iowa Standard a lot. Facebook has absolutely throttled political speech. Any news link is given little reach. Our page has more than 44,800 followers, but the average political news link from our website on Facebook will reach maybe 300-500 people. Prior to Facebook changing its rules and policies, our most boring stories were reaching thousands of people. It killed our traffic.
Facebook admits it does this. Your political speech is stifled, while that photo of your neighbor’s steak dinner enjoys a much larger reach.
Meanwhile, while your First Amendment is throttled by Facebook, the company benefits from numerous tax breaks in here Iowa. In fact, Facebook demonetized The Iowa Standard in August because we shared a satirical meme about Democrats replacing Biden and needing to replace millions of already-filled out ballots. Then, they completely demonetized The Iowa Standard because they determined we are a political candidate or official political entity (party).
Facebook isn’t alone. Google flagged my story about Will “Lia” Thomas as containing dangerous or derogatory language. Here is that story. Judge for yourself if it deserved that label. It also flagged a story detailing Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s speech as containing “unreliable and harmful claims.”
This is Big Tech Censorship at its finest. And nothing has been done about it at the state level despite the fact the state is providing these companies with millions of dollars in tax breaks.
In fact, Google qualifies for economic incentives that include a 20-year, 70-percent tax exemption as long as job creation and employment thresholds are met. In March of this year, the Iowa Economic Development Authority board signed off on a $56 million local tax break over 20 years to support Google’s new potential $576 million data center in Cedar Rapids. That’s just a couple years after the board signed off on Google getting a $16.6 million local property tax break for over 20 years at another location.
Why is state government allowing this to happen? Especially after we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Big Tech censored speech related to the 2020 Election and COVID. And in the case of censoring speech related to COVID, it could be argued that censorship cost lives.
How did this issue just fall off the to-do list? It has not gone away. It has not gotten better (I would argue it’s gotten worse). Sure, Elon Musk purchased Twitter and conservatives feel they have free speech there, but political news links sure look to be throttled there too.
Whatever algorithm is used to determine the allowable or standard reach for a photo of food should at least be equivalent to that of a political news link. I mean, especially if the Leftists who run Big Tech really care so much about “preserving our democracy.”
Wouldn’t a key part of preserving democracy be educating people on the democracy?
Republicans have huge majorities in both the Iowa Senate and the Iowa House. We also have a Republican Governor. Some in the GOP have celebrated announcements by Big Tech companies to build here in Iowa. I’m sure those investments have helped our state’s economy.
But should Iowans be losing their First Amendment right to free speech and watch as political speech is stifled while taxpayers are helping provide millions and millions of dollars to these Big Tech companies?
Of course not. Not in a state with a Republican trifecta. Not if those Republicans are putting “The People” first.
Let’s hope that the Iowa Legislature takes another run at addressing Big Tech censorship. It’s the least they could do after providing millions and millions in tax incentives to the same companies shutting Iowans up.
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