One of the biggest things I've wondered in this new era of social media censorship is how the companies' policies of banning people and repressing the news actually helps their bottom line. They are publicly traded companies, after all. They're supposed to try to make a profit for their shareholders. How does shutting down their free "content producers," whether it's President Trump, or Dr. Robert Malone, with all their millions of followers on Twitter and Facebook, actually make money for these tech barons?
Well, now things are starting to come together. According to the Washington Free Beacon:
Shareholders in Google and YouTube are pressing the tech giants to disclose any requests they have received from the Biden administration to scrub politically "problematic" information from the platforms, according to a copy of a shareholder proposal obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
The National Legal and Policy Center, an ethics watchdog group that holds a voting stake in Google and YouTube's parent corporation Alphabet, submitted the shareholder proposal to the company this week, following a string of controversies over Google and YouTube's removal of videos that question the Biden administration's COVID-19 policies.
The proposed disclosure requirement could shed light on whether the administration has directed tech companies to remove information that it deems misleading, a scenario that raises concerns about government censorship. In July, the White House said it was "in regular touch" with social media platforms to discuss ways to combat "misinformation" online.