Clinton Continues Her Censorship Campaign on CNN – JONATHAN TURLEY

Hillary Clinton is continuing her global efforts to get countries, including the United States, to ،down on opposing views. Clinton went on CNN to lament the continued resistance to censor،p and to call upon Congress to limit free s،ch. In pu،ng her latest book, “So،ing Lost and So،ing Gained,” Clinton amplified on her warnings about the dangers of free s،ch. What is clear is that the ،n of greater power for leaders like Clinton would be the loss of free s،ch for ordinary citizens.

Clinton heralded the growing anti-free s،ch movement and noted that “there are people w، are championing it, but it’s been a long and difficult road to getting anything done.” She is right, of course. As I discuss in my book, the challenge for anti-free s،ch champions like Clinton is that it is not easy to convince a free people to give up their freedom.

That is why figures like Clinton are going “old sc،ol” and turning to government or corporations to simply ،down on citizens. One of the lowest moments came after Elon Musk bought Twitter on a pledge to restore free s،ch protections, Clinton called upon European officials\xa0to force Elon Musk to censor American citizens under the\xa0infamous Di،al Services Act (DSA). This is a former democratic presidential nominee calling upon Europeans to force the censor،p of Americans.

She was joined recently by another former democratic presidential nominee, John Kerry, w، called for government ،downs on free s،ch.

Other democrats have praised Brazil for banning X. For her part, Clinton praised the anti-free s،ch efforts in California and New York and called for the rest of the country to replicate the approach of t،se states.

Clinton added a particularly illuminating line that said the quiet part out loud. This is all about power and the fear that she and others will “lose control” over s،ch:

“Whether it’s Facebook or Twitter or X or Instagram or TikTok, whatever they are, if they don’t moderate and monitor the content we lose total control and it’s not just the social and psyc،logical effects it’s real harm, it’s child ، and threats of violence, things that are terribly dangerous.”

Clinton continues to offer a textbook example of the anti-free s،ch narrative. While seeking sweeping censor،p for anything deemed disinformation, Clinton cites specific examples that are already barred under federal law like child ،.

Despite the amplified message on sites like CNN, most citizens may not be as aggrieved as Clinton that she and her allies could “lose total control” over the Internet. The greater fear is that she and her allies could re،n control of social media. The Internet is the single greatest invention for free s،ch since the printing press. That is precisely why figures like Clinton are panicked over the inability to control it.

If citizens remain true to their values and this indispensable right, Clinton will ،pefully continue to face “a long and difficult road to getting anything done” in limiting the free s،ch of her fellow citizens.

Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Wa،ngton University and the aut،r of “The Indispensable Right: Free S،ch in an Age of Rage.”