WASHINGTON – Alliance Defending Freedom submitted a public comment Wednesday to the Federal Trade Commission in response to the agency’s request for information about big tech censorship. The letter chronicles extensive examples of how tech companies have used vague policies to censor and chill speech on their platforms, whether due to government coercion, pressure from third parties, or their own misguided discretion.
In the letter, ADF details subjective criteria that major companies like Meta (the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp), Google, and Apple—among many others—rely on to censor users who communicate ideas on these platforms that challenge certain narratives favored by government officials and tech “gatekeepers.” Under the guise of combatting “misinformation,” “hate speech,” “bias,” and “intolerance,” multi-billion dollar tech companies have engaged in censorship that disproportionately harms conservative and religious users. The risks from these policies are not hypothetical. ADF’s letter shows how Meta applied its policies to deplatform pro-life users. It also discusses how Google refuses to run ads for life-saving abortion pill reversal while allowing those for abortion pills. And it examines how Yelp has slapped pro-life pregnancy centers with a discriminatory label and unrecommended positive reviews for those centers.
“The framers of the Bill of Rights—specifically the First Amendment—understood the critical importance of free speech, and we must protect that freedom against threats from private companies as much as from government agents,” said ADF Senior Counsel Phil Sechler, director of the ADF Center for Free Speech. “But a disturbing trend of censoring specific viewpoints—especially mainstream conservative and religious beliefs—has taken root over the years in Silicon Valley and even our own government, especially under the prior administration. We are urging the FTC to thoroughly investigate the ways in which Big Tech weaponizes its platforms to punish Americans for simply holding a different viewpoint than the one tech companies prefer, and for the agency to take action where necessary.”
“ADF has defended multiple individuals and organizations who found themselves on the wrong side of major corporations who didn’t agree with their speech and punished them for it,” said ADF Senior Counsel and Senior Vice President for Corporate Engagement Jeremy Tedesco. “This should not be happening, and it needs to end now. Corporate censorship at any level is antithetical to a free society. The FTC should urge tech companies to correct course and restore a thriving marketplace of ideas.”
ADF notes how technology platforms have adopted policies from the much-discredited Southern Poverty Law Center to target conservative political and religious speech. The letter also details specific examples of censorship and deplatforming, such as Meta banning LifeNews.com and its CEO and editor, Steven Ertelt, for sharing pro-life messages, and Eventbrite negating ticket sales for presentations on gender dysphoria, parental rights, and safety in women’s sports.
“[C]ontent moderation and acceptable use policies that prohibit ‘hate speech,’ ‘misinformation,” and similar content or views create systemic risks of viewpoint discrimination in ways that chill speech,” ADF states in the letter. “The vague and subjective nature of these policies, both facially and in practice, raise serious concerns of being ‘unfair’ to customers and users under the [Federal Trade Commission] Act.”
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.
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