Pro-life advocates and conservatives vowed to fight back against media giants Facebook, Google and Twitter amid growing concerns about censorship.
On Thursday, Jerry Johnson, president of the National Religious Broadcasters, said battling online censorship is one of their top priorities, the Tennessean reports.
“We are calling on Silicon Valley to embrace First Amendment principles,” Johnson told the audience at its annual conference in Nashville, Tennessee.
His organization is tracking the problems with social media that conservatives, Christians and pro-lifers have been experiencing over the past several years.
A panel of prominent conservative leaders discussed what can be done to stop the online censorship. Among the panelists was Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser. Late last year, Twitter censored one of her pro-life organization’s video ads because it included the phrase “killing babies.”
Here’s more from the report:
Conservative views will be squeezed out of online spaces if tech companies are not challenged, said Dennis Prager, a Jewish radio show host. He also co-founded PragerU. The conservative nonprofit that posts videos online filed a lawsuit against Google last year after YouTube restricted several of its videos.
“The Internet will be Berkeley if they’re allowed by judges to continue what they’re doing,” Prager said, referring to the California university.
Conservative groups need to band together to support those affected, said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council.
“Collectively as we put our voices, our platforms together, we can make a difference,” Perkins said. “We’ve seen it time and time again. When we flood the zone, when we stand together, we are an overwhelming number.”
Just last week, Google-owned YouTube restricted a PragerU video with pro-life leader Lila Rose just a few hours after it was released. The video exposes myths about the abortion giant Planned Parenthood.
Pro-life advocates and conservatives increasingly have become concerned about online censorship on widely-used social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
SUPPORT PRO-LIFE NEWS! Please help LifeNews.com with a donation to share the pro-life message in 2018
The Daily Signal recently exposed how Google uses the radical left-wing group Southern Poverty Law Center to help review political content on YouTube. SPLC is notorious for labeling pro-life and conservative organizations as “hate groups.”
In October, Twitter rejected an ad from pro-life Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn because she mentioned Planned Parenthood’s sales of aborted baby body parts. Twitter later reversed its decision after LifeNews and other news outlets reported about the matter.
Facebook and Twitter have blocked other pro-life content in the past, as well.
In September, Live Action, the youth-centered pro-life organization known for its undercover investigations of Planned Parenthood, said Twitter has been censoring its ads. Live Action and founder Lila Rose said the social media site blocked their ability to advertise and told them to change information on their websites if they want to start advertising again.
In 2015, Facebook also refused to allow Live Action News to advertise one of its stories because “the image or video thumbnail may shock or evoke a negative response from viewers.” The image was of baby Eli Thompson who was born without a nose.
Facebook became a subject of national news in 2016 after some of its workers admitted that they suppressed conservative news stories in favor of liberal ones. LifeNews.com, which is the leading pro-life news website on the Internet and the only one specifically devoted to pro-life issues, has long believed that Facebook has been suppressing its traffic.
