Big League Censorship? Michigan Attorney General Threatens Criminal Prosecution Over Posting Of Video Alleging Voter Fraud JONATHAN TURLEY
I have been commenting on the ongoing challenges to the presidential election. While I have not seen evidence of systemic voter fraud, there are hundreds of affidavits alleging localized fraud, including cases of deceased persons voting. The challenges should be heard and the evidence should be examined. However, the most worrisome response came out of Michigan this week where Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel s Office of Public Information threatened a website, Big League Politics, with criminal prosecution if it did not take down a video of alleged voting fraud. The video may indeed be misleading or false. However, the threat of criminal prosecution by the Michigan Attorney General s office is a chilling escalation of the crackdown on free speech in this country and the calls for censorship on the Internet.
We have been discussing the calls for top Democrats for increased private censorship on social media and the Internet. President-elect Joe Biden has himself called for such censorship, including blocking President Donald Trump s criticism of mail-in voting. Recently, Bill Russo, a deputy communications director on Biden s campaign press team, tweeted that Facebook is shredding the fabric of our democracy by allowing such views to be shared freely.
The calls mirror the trend in Europe where countries like France, Germany, and England have criminalized speech with ever expanding examples of prohibited expressions and views.
This is alarming.