There is a growing trend of organizations being established to target sites like this one with sanctioned censorship. You can help battle back.

Every so often, you might come across a news item about another example of censorship taking place in the media landscape. The exposure of Twitter, courtesy of Elon Musk and his Twitter Files, has been one glaring example, and many others are cropping up. We here at Townhall Media have been experiencing those efforts on a greater scale than many may realize. 

Just in the last few weeks of this young year, we have not only seen but been on the receiving end of censoring attempts and classification acts meant to diminish our exposure and our revenue streams. This is an intentional effort by tech giants, social media platforms, and, as I have shown, a growing number of organizations that are focused on silencing voices on the right under the guise of “battling disinformation.” 

Worse still, these are outfits pocketing large sums of cash from the federal government. 

This is hardly tinfoil hat speculation. Our sites have come under direct pressure of this nature on a regular basis. Earlier this month, Senator Rand Paul wrote an op-ed at Townhall titled, “Gain of Function Research: A Death Wish for the World.” Not long after it was published, the site management received a notification from Google that it had elected to flag the article as being dangerous content.

As happens with too many stories and columns at Townhall, our team was notified by Google that Senator Paul’s op-ed was flagged for containing “unreliable and harmful claims.” According to Google, its “unreliable and harmful” flag is applied to content “that makes claims that are demonstrably false and could significantly undermine participation or trust in an electoral or democratic process.” So public health officials, federal agencies, and Columbia University professors are “unreliable” now that Senator Paul is highlighting their statements and findings that suggest tinkering around with viruses can have negative consequences.

This obviously is the extension from the pandemic days, when the media and tech giants placed themselves in the position of being arbiters of what is proper and accepted scientific data. Townhall managed to challenge this Google dictum (albeit carefully), and ultimately, the search engine monolith lifted the flag, claiming it was labeled “in error.” This is hardly an isolated example, nor is Google the lone actor in this effort.

Also, this month, as we detailed at the time, an outfit in Great Britain called the Global Disinformation Index (GDI) has been issuing a labeled list of sites it deems to be “False/Misleading.” (Townhall was seemingly worse, earning the “Reprehensible/Offensive” tag.) The notable aspect of this is that the lengthy list featured only right-of-center sites. What was troubling, as the Washington Examiner pointed out, was that a Microsoft-owned advertising company was subscribing to this site list and working to limit the revenue of sites like ours.

This issue is mounting, as GDI is not acting alone. There are a number of outfits and organizations that are cropping up to create similar lists. These are either non-profits, media-focus outfits, or university-based think tanks that classify sites that go against the narrative as dangerous and in need of corrective actions. 

At our partner site PJ Media, one of the staff writers, Matt Margolis, had his Twitter account locked down for comments he had made regarding transgenderism. It took Elon Musk buying the site and instituting his amnesty initiative toward accounts like Matt’s in order for him to become reinstated on the platform. While good news, to be certain, it still manages to highlight the problem experienced across social media platforms. As Matt explained in his announced return:

As much as I welcome this return to Twitter, it doesn’t mean that big tech censorship is no longer an issue. Twitter is just one platform, and there are still plenty of others that will never stop in their efforts to silence conservative voices. Even if they don’t ban us all from their platform, they will limit our reach and threaten our survival.

This is where our VIP program becomes a vital component for us at RedState and all of the Townhall Media sites. VIP serves as our firewall and allows us to bring you articles and columns that are beyond the “accepted” standards of others. We can deliver directly to you coverage that will not be sanitized, censored, or silenced by those with an agenda.

If you haven’t already, we invite you to become a member of our VIP program. Each RedState VIP and VIP Gold membership lessens our reliance on Big Tech and allows us to continue this critical work. We know the Biden economy is affecting everyone’s bottom line, so with the promo code CENSORSHIP for 50% off your membership!

Additionally, while VIP members have access to a wealth of exclusive content, VIP Gold subscribers get even more. With VIP Gold, not only is your direct support doubled, but VIP Gold members have Gold access across the entire Townhall Media family (Townhall, RedState, PJ Media, and more) – a nearly $300 value.