Rep. Donalds rips Psaki's 'outrageous' comments on Big Tech: White House got 'caught with their hand in the cookie jar'
Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., discusses Big Tech reform and vaccinations at Turning Point USA conference in Tampa, Florida
Rep. Bryon Donalds, R-Fla., said in a new interview he was "disgusted" by the recent rhetoric coming from the Biden administration about battling so-called coronavirus "misinformation" on social media.
"It's sick," Donalds told Fox News at Turning Point USA's Student Action Summit in Tampa. "I think Jen Psaki is forgetting what the First Amendment of the United States Constitution actually stands for … It says the government – the government, mind you, which includes the White House, which includes her – cannot infringe on free speech, period, full stop. Say no more."
White House press secretary Jen Psaki made headlines last week when she revealed the administration was flagging what it considers to be problematic Facebook posts jeopardizing the government's vaccination goals. Psaki also suggested those who are banned on one social media platform for "misinformation" should be banned from others as well.
"The fact that the White House thinks it's OK to collude with social media companies is outrageous to me," Donalds told Fox News. "The fact that they think that it's OK because we have to deal with a pandemic or people getting vaccinated, that they do not have the wherewithal to just gently push or nudge or force social media companies to pull that information is outrageous to the front of freedom everywhere, especially here in the United States."
Donalds argued that Big Tech censorship is "absolutely" a First Amendment issue because the federal government "has their hand in the cookie jar."
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"Remember what she said in her statement. She said these were public message boards, but when she was pressed on it, then she goes ‘no, no, no, no … we’re not doing it. Private companies are doing it.' Well, you can't have it both ways!" Donalds exclaimed. "If they're private companies, the government can't have their hands in it. That goes for me, and that goes for Joe Biden, and goes for anybody else."
Regarding how lawmakers combat Big Tech censorship, the Florida Republican was doubtful that any legislation could get bipartisan support, arguing Democrats support it since "their comments aren't being pulled down."
"If Instagram, which is basically owned by Facebook, if they went and pulled out one of AOC's posts that she likes to do because they said there was a lot of misinformation in there, I guarantee you, there'll be reform on Big Tech tomorrow," Donalds said, "but because that does not happen, there's not going to be. The Democrats don't want to do anything like this. They're getting exactly what they want. So how are you going to get bipartisan support when one party is getting exactly what they want out of the deal."
Donalds suggested there is little the Biden administration can do to promote vaccinations amid the contagious Delta variant that's caused a spike in nationwide COVID cases, saying ultimately Americans will decide for themselves whether or not to get vaccinated.
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"At this point, people are either going to do it, or they are not," Donalds said. "If people don't want to get vaccinated, then fine, they don't want to vaccinate. The people who want to get vaccinated, make sure they have the information about the vaccine, the credible information. Let the FDA continue to do their studies, let that stuff continue to happen, put that information out, don't pull down other pieces of information … But at the end of the day, you can't make people do something they don't want to do. This is the United States of America. It is not Cuba."