Four Democrats in the U.S. House sent a letter to Big Tech executives on Friday demanding increased censorship and scrutiny on their platforms after Hurricanes Helene and Milton. They argued that they must censor posts to protect users from potential scams and “misinformation” about federal agencies.
Representatives Deborah Ross (D-NC-02), Kathy Castor (D-FL-14), Nikema Williams (D-GA-05), and Wiley Nickel (D-NC-13) urged tech executives to “do substantially more” to combat social media “misinformation” that purportedly began in the wake of Hurricane Helene, in a letter first reported by Axios.
According to the Democrats, “misinformation” on social media has included false claims about FEMA funds for residents affected by the disasters and “misleading” information about shelter and resources.”
The agency also complained, “conspiracy theories have spread claiming that both storms are the result of government actions,” which it claimed resulted in death threats and harassment against meteorologists on X, the platform known as Twitter until it was purchased and renamed by Elon Musk.
The letter addresses executives including Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of X, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, and top executives at Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Discord, and Snapchat.
The executives are urged to “[i]ncrease the monitoring and rapid removal of misinformation and disinformation related to disaster recovery efforts,” deepen its “fact-checking partnerships” with local relief organizations, “Strengthen algorithms to flag” and censor posts deemed problematic, and “Implement stronger safeguards against scams” in the affected areas.
At least one social media platform has already stated what it is doing to combat misinformation. The Community Notes program on X confirmed Wednesday that additional user-generated context or fact checks were “showing on hundreds of posts and have already been seen well over 44 million times.”
Yaccarino shared the post and advised users to be careful and safe and check the platform for information.
The request for more censorship from big tech companies comes amid scrutiny of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) over its response to Hurricane Helene in East Tennessee and North Carolina, where Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) said on Friday the agency has been “far too slow” in helping those in the hurricane’s path.
Representative Tim Burchett (R-TN-02) similarly told The Tennessee Star earlier this month he is “not confident in them at all.” Burchett has since demanded receipts for its relief spending after Hurricane Helene.
FEMA also came under fire in the immediate aftermath of the hurricanes, when multiple reports claimed the agency was confiscating supplies or blocking relief efforts.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Hurricane Helene Damage” by Red Cross.Â
Democrats ALSO Pressured the klan to tone it down back in the day
( their own party members )
Their demands to block disinformation are laughable while, at the same time, some of their members direct people to go to Snopes for accurate information. That site is so left-leaning it almost slides off of the internet.
$4B was also recently disbursed for “COVID relief.” Excuse me??????
A friend of mine reports thatFacebook and other platforms have deleted picture and videos she posted, without explanation. Just GONE. Not on her feed, just as if it didn’t exist. She also reports the death toll is grossly underreported. She has a conservative estimate of 1000 dead maybe more. She is a medical professional afraid to speak out for fear of losing her licenses. She does believe the seizures of some supplies did happen.
Republicans also want to censor. NeoCon Marsha Blackburn wants the Government to decide what we can or can not see on Social Media. Parents, not the government not TikTok not social media, are responsible for their children. Hey government, leave them kids alone.
Hippocrates one and all.
It’s a proven fact that the biden administration used funds that should have been available for disaster relief for the illegal aliens that they encouraged to flood into America. All of this supposed “disinformation” would be a lot less if we didn’t have one of the most corrupt governments in the world. The biden administration, and the democratic political machine have one goal, turn America into a socialist gulag. They are not to be trusted at all.