Mailchimp decided that they don’t want to provide their service to the Northern Virginia Tea Party, claiming the messages contained “potentially harmful misinformation.”
Twitter, Facebook, Eventbrite, and Google have all hit hard against conservatives use of their platforms. Now, bulk emailer Mailchimp has joined the ranks of tech companies that have decided to silence the voices of conservatives. Big tech appears to believe that it is their purview to give access to their platform to whomever they please—and to deplatform those they don't.
Mailchimp, which is a service organizations can use to send emails to everyone who has signed up to be on their contact list, decided that they don't want to provide their service to the Northern Virginia Tea Party. They claimed that the messages contained "potentially harmful misinformation."
Mailchimp, a common email delivery service, has refused to provide service to the Northern Virginia Tea Party, citing that it violates their terms of agreement about "potential... misinformation." It had attempted to notify members about a recount rally. pic.twitter.com/o156shaKq9
— Luke Rosiak (@lukerosiak)
Google has been revealed by Project Veritas to have implemented their left-leaning bias. Twitter has routinely cracked down against conservative accounts and viewpoints, calling it misinformation, when in fact they are perspectives that don't align with leftist ideas.
Facebook routinely shuts down pro-Trump pages. Eventbrite banned an event host from posting about a pro-Trump march in Washington, DC, that resulted in violence by BLM and Antifa activists against Trump supporters.
Big Tech companies feel that denying access to their services based on political ideology is part of its purview. They believe that the communication products they provide are to be only used by those in line with their political perspectives. Big Tech is the only industry that feels this is their right.
Farmers who provide food do not have either the option or the impulse to only provide food to those consumers that agree with their political ideas. Hospitals cannot deny treatment to those who advocate for opposing political ideas than their boards of directors. Paper companies, offices supply chains, restaurants, make-up companies, hair salons, butchers, car dealerships, pharmaceutical companies, flatware manufacturers, coffee grinders, bourbon distillers, perfumeries, do not only provide their services to people who agree with them politically.
Why does Big Tech get a pass? What is it about companies that operate communication software that makes them think they do not have to provide their services to the public at large?
When bakers who opposed gay marriage didn't want to make a cake for a gay marriage celebration, they were roundly derided by the left and by Democrats. The Supreme Court decided in favour of the Colorado baker, saying that their religious liberty was more Constitutionally integral than the rights of the couple to access the services of that particular baker.
Do Big Tech companies have a religious grounds for not wanting to provide their services to those who differ in political persuasion? If so, what is it?
In the case of the Colorado baker and the betrothed couple, there were other bakers. There are so many other bakers, that one baker's use of religious liberty to deny to make a cake celebrating something to which they are fundamentally opposed did not bar the couple from getting a cake that suited their needs. This is not the case with tech companies.
There are not either conservative leaning or neutral event, social media, or mass mailer programs that are accessible to the public at large. There are alternative search engines, but the marketplace dominance of Google makes them practically obsolete.
Digital communication is essential. Everyone in the US is expected to have access to it, to use it, for invitations and information, for communication between peers. No one group of political ideologues has the right to hold it hostage from those with whom they disagree.
The Post Millennial reached out to Mailchimp and the Northern Virginia Tea Party, but has not yet heard back at time of publication.
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