Facebook and Twitter are facing a new boycott call for robbing viewers from conservative media sites like the Drudge Report.

House Media Fairness Caucus Chairman Rep. Lamar Smith said that Facebook, Twitter and other sites that have issued new “fairness” rules that are biased against conservative websites and news outlets should be abandoned.

During a House hearing, Smith, a Texas Republican, said, “As private companies, social media can censor or suppress anyone they want, that’s their First Amendment right to freedom of speech. But they should be held accountable by the American people and the public should realize that they are getting slanted information.”





He added, “If social media companies continue to silence conservative viewpoints, millions of Americans should either support alternative platforms or boycott the biased media.”

Citing new posting rules on key sites, Smith said that Facebook and others are targeting conservatives for censorship. And the result, he added, is that conservative websites are losing readers and revenue.

He cited a Drudge Report tweet that repeated the Trump campaign slogan “Keep America Great” and said that Twitter censored it because it was seen as “politically sensitive content.”



“This is emerging, the greatest censorship of free speech worldwide in the history of man,” Bozell conveyed during the interview. https://t.co/i5EgebsvIs — MediaFairnessCaucus (@FairMediaCaucus) April 17, 2018



Smith noted that Facebook and Google changes have cut traffic, the lifeblood of websites, some 20 percent.

Newsbusters recently revealed other changes. See here.

“Google’s new fact checking feature appears to target conservative websites. Several conservative leaning outlets such as the Daily Caller are routinely vetted by Google for their content. Equally partisan sites such as Vox, the Huffington Post, Daily Kos, Mother Jones, and other left wing outlets and blogs are not given the same treatment,” he said.

Changes “have disproportionately harmed conservative publishers on its social platforms. They’re getting fewer readers while their liberal counterparts have not been impacted to the same degree,” added Smith, long a defender of conservative sites.

He cited one change in Facebook that could result in censorship if posts aren’t nice to illegal immigrants.

“These new guidelines appear to protect illegal immigrants. Saying, ‘Illegal immigrants should return to their country of origin’ would result in a violation of the guidelines on Facebook. And if someone called an illegal immigrant who has not paid taxes but gets government benefits a ‘free rider,’ that would be considered hate speech according to Facebook,” he said.