Media: Press Release

IAP Statement on Facebook’s Censorship of Gold Star Mother for Criticizing Biden

August 31, 2021

WASHINGTON – Mike Davis, founder and president of the Internet Accountability Project, today released the following statement after Facebook censored a Gold Star mother for criticizing President Biden’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan that resulted in her Marine son’s death.

“A Gold Star mother expressed her outrage at President Biden for his incompetence that led to her 20-year-old Marine son’s tragic and unnecessary death in Afghanistan. In one of its most cruel censorship decisions to date, Facebook thought it was a good idea to censor a grieving Gold Star mother. In the meantime, members of the Taliban — ultimately responsible for her son’s death — roam on Facebook’s platforms. After intense public blowback, Facebook backed down by stating without explanation that it ‘mistakenly’ deleted her account.

“It’s long past time for Congress to end Big Tech’s bullying and discrimination based upon political viewpoints. Congress must end Big Tech’s Section 230 immunity and update our century-old antitrust laws to end Big Tech’s antitrust amnesty.

“Courts must also address how Section 230 has created government-sponsored censorship, in violation of the First Amendment. The government cannot avoid constitutional scrutiny by outsourcing its censorship dirty work to private actors.

“We must break up the trillion-dollar Big Tech monopolists: Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple. They have too much market power and are abusing it to the detriment of everyday Americans. Simply stated, if Big Tech monopolists had real competition, they wouldn’t be able to get away with their government-sponsored censorship and their coddling of their preferred ruling regime. Big Government must stop coddling Big Tech — and Big Tech must stop coddling its Big Government defenders.

“We send our deepest sympathies and prayers to all the families of our 13 fallen heroes, including Shana Chappell and the rest of her late son Kareem Nikoui’s family, and we pray for the speedy recovery of the 18 other service members who were injured by terrorist monsters.”

IAP is a nonprofit conservative advocacy group that holds Big Tech accountable for engaging in egregious business practices like snooping, spying, political bias against conservatives, employee abuses and anticompetitive conduct. Davis previously served as Chief Counsel for Nominations to Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary and led the Senate confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh and a record number of circuit court judges. More information on Davis and IAP can be found here.