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U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) was in the middle of an anti-Big Tech rant when he was ironically interrupted by the Siri app on his iPhone
“Something went wrong. Please try again,” Apple’s virtual assistant warned during Cruz’s sit-down with Fox News Digital.
“Well, Big Tech is getting mad,” Cruz joked after reaching for his mobile device in the video clip embedded below. “Siri just said, ‘Something went wrong. Please try again.’
“I’m actually perfectly happy that Siri got mad. Sorry there, Siri,” he added playfully.
#BigTech is the single greatest threat to free and fair elections. pic.twitter.com/1HLjt6FDd3
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) December 22, 2021
Before he was somewhat rudely interrupted by the artificial intelligence software, Cruz asserted that Big Tech brings a double-whammy to democracy:
“Well, unfortunately, Big Tech is, I believe, the single greatest threat we have to free speech in America, and it’s the single greatest threat we have to free and fair elections in America. Big Tech: they are hard left. They’re not just Democrats, they’re to the left of the Democratic Party, and they’re trying to drive the Democratic Party left. And, you know, listen, I’m someone who believes in free speech.”
That’s when Siri chimed in.
“I believe in free speech,” Cruz, who is no stranger to controversy on or offline, continued after the brief audio intrusion. “That includes the speech of people who disagree with me. You know, you’ve got every First Amendment right to attack me, to insult me, to argue whatever view you want.”
Ted Cruz blasts smug United CEO for ‘disturbing’ threats against staff, grills him hard in heated hearing https://t.co/crhvNq5bMN
— Jack Furnari (@JackBPR) December 16, 2021
“The left doesn’t believe in free speech anymore. Democrats don’t believe in free speech. When we have hearings, I’ve chaired multiple hearings on Big Tech censorship. Democrats show up, number one, they say it doesn’t happen, that it’s simply not occurring. But number two, to the extent they engage, they lean in and say censor more,” he explained.
“I think Democrats were furious with Big Tech. ‘How the hell did Donald Trump get elected in 2016? How did you let any conservative speak over Big Tech?’ And the almost uniform message from Democrats is censor more, silence every view we disagree with.”
Parenthetically, British historian Niall Ferguson predicted on CNBC in September 2018 that “Silicon Valley is never going to let 2016 happen again.”
“So what they call ‘misinformation’ is all of Fox News. That’s misinformation. By the way, Gigi Sohn, who Biden has nominated to the Federal Communications Commission, calls Fox News ‘misinformation,'” Cruz claimed.
“When they say ‘misinformation,’ they mean ‘we don’t agree with it: silence it.’ ‘Extremism.’ What they mean by ‘extremism’ is every Republican in America. That’s what they call extremism. You know what? They probably mean Joe Manchin is ‘extremism.’ I mean, they mean everyone except the hard left.”
If the GOP wins control of Congress in 2022, it remains to be seen if they will actually do anything serious about Big Tech’s bias other than all talk and no action, however, perhaps, in part, given that Silicon Valley spreads cash donations on both sides of the political aisle.
Some forceful Republican lawmakers such as Cruz, Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), and others in both chambers do seem like they are intent on pushing remedial legislation, whether that involves reforming the Section 230 exemption in the Communications Decency Act or reining in the online platforms on the basis of their monopolistic practices.
As a side note, if it is conclusively determined as a matter of law that Big Tech is working hand-in-hand with Big Government, constitutional free-speech protections could apply to these purported private-sector entities.
Cruz also praised West Virginia Democrat Manchin’s decision to oppose the Build Back Better plan (which some have described as Build Back Broke) and expressed hope that he might switch parties.
“The Build Back Broke Bill was a disaster,” he declared. “It was a train wreck. It was Bernie Sanders’ socialist budget. It was trillions in new spending, trillions in new debt, trillions in new taxes, it would have driven inflation through the roof. We’ve already got inflation exploding across the country. And it was reckless and irresponsible. And you know what, the people of West Virginia don’t want it. Manchin did the right thing. He actually represented the men and women of his state.”
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Robert Jonathan is a staff writer for BizPac Review. He is a longtime writer/editor for news aggregation websites and has also developed content in the legal and financial publishing sectors as well as for online education. He earned a Juris Doctorate from the University of Connecticut School of Law, “a law school the basketball teams can be proud of.”
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