Secretary of State Mike Pompeo railed against big tech censorship reaching new heights this week as “authoritarianism cloaked as moral righteousness.”
“We’re all part of institutions with duties and responsibilities higher and bigger and more important than any one of us individually,” Pompeo said at Voice of America after decrying the government employees for protesting his appearance. “But this kind of censorial instinct is dangerous. It’s morally wrong. Indeed, it’s against your statutory mandate here at VOA.”
Pompeo continued: “Censorship, wokeness, political correctness — it all points in one direction: authoritarianism cloaked as moral righteousness, similar to what we’re seeing in Twitter and Facebook and Apple and on too many university campuses today. It’s not who we are.”
Secretary of State @mikepompeo speaks out against censorship by "Twitter, Facebook, Apple, and on college campuses" while speaking at VOA:
"Censorship, wokeness, political correctness, it all points in one direction: authoritarianism cloaked as moral righteousness." pic.twitter.com/ayT0X0MDS4
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) January 11, 2021
Pompeo’s remarks came after VOA staff complained ahead of Monday’s address that their network would broadcast remarks from the chief diplomat of the nation funding their salaries.
Voice of America employees complaining about broadcasting … the voice of America’s most senior diplomat? Seems like exactly what we should be doing to promote American values abroad. Tune in to hear my remarks about American Greatness & America First tomorrow at 3pm ET. pic.twitter.com/VJ8jsTUwkO
— Mike Pompeo (@mikepompeo) January 10, 2021
[Listen to The Federalist Radio Hour on the deep-rooted bias of Voice of America here. Watch here.]
Pompeo’s harsh words against big tech also follow escalating collusion between companies de-platforming competing voices that dissent from their dystopian world order. Once the clock hit midnight early Monday morning, Parler went offline after Amazon announced over the weekend it would be booting the free-speech alternative to Twitter from its web hosting services. Apple and Google banned the platform from their app stores, with each company taking action against the growing website, branding it as a haven for right-wing extremists to plot insurrection despite Facebook and Twitter each harboring such activity in the run-up to the Capitol Hill riots last week.
Like Twitter, other online companies, from Shopify to Reddit, have also implemented restrictions or outright bans on President Donald Trump and affiliated groups.
Platforms currently banning or restricting President Trump 👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/7ScLCXxjb3
— Lidia Curanaj (@LidiaNews) January 9, 2021
The Twitter ban in particular, while creating a martyr in Trump, has also provoked condemnation overseas. Russian dissident Alexey Navalny derided the ban as “unacceptable,” while German Chancellor Angela Merkel called it “problematic.”
1. I think that the ban of Donald Trump on Twitter is an unacceptable act of censorship (THREAD)
— Alexey Navalny (@navalny) January 9, 2021
9. If you replace "Trump" with "Navalny" in today's discussion, you will get an 80% accurate Kremlin's answer as to why my name can't be mentioned on Russian TV and I shouldn't be allowed to participate in any elections.
— Alexey Navalny (@navalny) January 9, 2021
