Big Tech Censorship

Amazon, by far the world’s largest bookseller, has until recently promoted itself as an open marketplace of ideas, with all kinds of transgressive and provocative works for sale, including Hitler’s notorious book “Mein Kampf.” But on February 21, Amazon suddenly removed any trace of When Harry Became Sally, a book published three years ago by Ethics and Public Policy Center President Ryan T. Anderson. Described as “sensitive” and “fair-minded” by professors at top medical schools, the policy treatise takes a traditional stance on the controversial issue of transgenderism. Amazon did not inform the author or publisher of its decision, and the company has refused to comment on the sudden ban on a book published several years ago. Bizarrely, other books by Anderson are still for sale on Amazon as are books by other authors that take a similar stance on transgenderism. Amazon’s actions suggest that it has adopted an ominous new “woke” censorship approach where certain books suddenly become problematic and disappear. Others – like “Mein Kampf” – remain openly for sale, with no discernable universal standard. Amazon needs to hear from consumers like you that such arbitrary yet highly politicized censorship must stop before it spreads further. Sign the petition demanding that Amazon stop the hypocritical censorship and restore Anderson’s book to its virtual shelves! Update 3/15/21: Amazon issued a statement after several U.S. Senators issued a complaint. The statement claims that Amazon will not sell books that characterize transgenderism as a mental illness. Anderson contends that his book does nothing of the sort.

On January 8th, Twitter announced that it had permanently suspended @realDonaldTrump, President Donald Trump’s personal account, “due to the risk of further incitement of violence” after they had determined three days prior that he violated their Glorification of Violence policy. Sign the petition to join New Tolerance Campaign in calling on Twitter to apply their policy uniformly to all government handles regardless of nationality, or reinstate President Trump’s account. Consistent standards of tolerance are critical to a healthy and stable society. At issue is whether Twitter will finally apply its policies in a consistent manner. While Twitter has ended Mr. Trump’s access to its platform, it continues to allow other government leaders to use Twitter even though they routinely glorify violence on Twitter in ways that fit Twitter’s assessment of Mr. Trump’s policy violation.  The prime example is the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, who routinely calls for violence against the United States and Israel, and has used Twitter to issue death threats. Ironically, the Iranian government bans its own citizens from using Twitter and has cut off all access to the Internet within its borders as a means of squashing speech and anti-government protests. Another troubling example is the still-allowed Twitter handle for the official Chinese Embassy in D.C., which recently tweeted “Study shows that in the process of eradicating extremism, the minds of Uygur [sic] women in Xinjiang were emancipated and gender equality and reproductive health were promoted, making them no longer baby-making machines. They are more confident and independent.” This tweet references the Chinese government’s imprisonment of over 1 million Chinese Uyghur Muslims into re-education concentration camps, actions that violate many international human rights statutes. Twitter’s blatant inconsistency in the application of its own policies is highly problematic as it creates and exacerbates divides in society that make people less tolerant towards each other. Twitter must act consistently, especially when it comes to the intersection between speech and violence.