Presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy's plan to "save the internet" from censorship and government interference intrigued Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk.
What Happened: In a video posted by Mike Benz, a former Trump State Department official, Ramaswamy expressed his thoughts on what he calls "government tech censorship."
Ramaswamy alleged that the government is using tech companies as a backdoor to enforce censorship.
See Also: Elon Musk Claims ‘Propaganda Level’ In Media Is ‘Tediously High’
"First thing you got to realize is that it's not ‘Big Tech censorship'. The first step to solving a problem is to name it. It's ‘government tech censorship,'" Ramaswamy remarked.
"That's illegal."
Ramaswamy also claimed that he was amongst the first to call it as such back in 2021, days after the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.
"I think any government bureaucrat that has instructed a private company to do something that the government couldn't do directly, needs to be held accountable," he said, adding that back in 2021, this was termed as just another conspiracy theory.
Ramaswamy also highlighted Musk's "Twitter Files" release, adding that he will also do something similar and release "State Action Files" if he wins his candidacy.
According to him, the "State Action Files" will include details of censorship actions initiated by bureaucrats and hold them accountable.
Why It Matters: Musk has been vocal about his dislike of the government's interference in the media, more so what was then Twitter, now X.
Musk ran the "Twitter Files" campaign days after taking over the ownership of Twitter. The campaign alleged that several government agencies and their agents were involved in shaping the discourse on Twitter, including which topics and users were supposed to be "de-platformed."
Image Credits – Shutterstock
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