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Conservatives Say Google and Facebook are Censoring Them. Here’s the Real Background.

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University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Read more in Shannon C. McGregor and Daniel Kreiss, "Conservatives Say Google and Facebook are Censoring Them. Here’s the Real Background," The Washington Post, August 1, 2019.

The White House recently hosted a Social Media Summit, inviting about 200 conservatives and right-wing activists to discuss their allegations that Facebook and Twitter censor their messaging. The summit capped a year of charges by the right that Silicon Valley tech firms have a liberal bias.

But these charges come in the face of considerable evidence that conservative news outlets outperform others on social media. Last week, the charges turned bipartisan. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii), a Democratic presidential candidate, filed a $50 million suit against Google, alleging that a temporary account suspension infringed on her free speech.