 Bernie Sanders weighed in on Donald Trump's social media ban and he also made some comments about big tech that I think are Things we should all be thinking about and his opinion here is really nuanced And I want to read what he had to say because I think that he makes some really solid points So Joseph Choi of the Hill reports Sanders appeared on the New York Times podcast the Ezra Klein show on Tuesday To discuss the state of the Democratic Party and was asked about criticisms from conservative figures that liberals had become too Sensorious and too willing to censor others quote look you have a former president and Trump who is a racist a sexist a homophobe a Xenophobe a pathological liar and authoritarian Somebody who doesn't believe in the rule of law This is a bad news guy Sanders said but if you're asking me Do I feel particularly comfortable that the president the then president of the United States could not express his views on Twitter? I don't feel comfortable about it However Sanders maintained that internet platforms should not allow for hate speech and conspiracy theories to spread out across the country or Be used for authoritarian purposes and insurrection. So how do you balance that? I don't know but it is an issue that we have got to be thinking about because of anybody who thinks yesterday It was Donald Trump who was banned and tomorrow it could be somebody else who has a very different point of view Sanders added The Vermont senator said he also did not like giving that much power to a handful of high tech people so yeah, what he's saying here is a Only the most reasonable statement ever However, I do disagree with Bernie Sanders and that I totally feel comfortable with Donald Trump being banned from all of social media because Insighting and insurrection is not protected speech. We're gonna walk down Anyone you want, but I think right here. We're gonna walk down to the Capitol and we're gonna cheer on our brave senators and Congressmen and women and we're probably not gonna be cheering so much for some of them Because you'll never take back our country with weakness you have to show strength and you have to be strong That's not protected under the First Amendment to the US Constitution and it's not protected on Twitter and I don't think they would Allow for that because of course they could be legally liable if they do allow this to persist Although I'm not sure with section 230. That's a little bit more of a gray area But having said that though, I think that it's really difficult, right? Most speech is protected in the United States, but there are a few exceptions that are oftentimes really difficult to prove So yes, I say there are exceptions to the First Amendment. You can't yell fire in a crowded room That's one of the common tropes that's used But when it comes to Donald Trump the case of him inciting an insurrection that led to people dying is so clear-cut that I think that it would be Unjust for him to not face any any penalties and I'm not just talking about a ban from Twitter Legal penalties should be imposed on Donald Trump for inciting an insurrection and for those of you who think wow Mike that seems like you are a little bit too sensorious Well, this is the way that I gauge whether or not we should hold someone accountable Donald Trump was banned for Inciting an insurrection from Twitter now they gave a different reason, but we all know it specifically because he incited an insurrection So I asked myself this question if that wasn't Donald Trump if it was me or if it were you who incited an insurrection When we get banned and the answer pretty obviously is yes But we'd also go to jail for doing something like that So to me Trump getting banned from Twitter is just one of those rare instances where Someone with a lot of power and a lot of wealth is actually held Accountable now of course that's not to say that I don't have a nuanced take care because it shouldn't be these big tech Silicon Valley oligarchs who are holding public officials accountable. We should have a legal system That actually holds elected officials accountable. So it's not necessarily like There's a perfect solution here And this is really complicated because Bernie Sanders lays out here how these big tech companies? Absolutely have far too much power. They have to be either nationalized or broken up Now a lot of folks like when I talked about how I thought it was fine that Trump was banned from Twitter Ultimately, I don't care I was kind of laughing at it because Donald Trump is a ghoul and he finally Was held accountable for once in his life and people basically took that and reduced my position down to her Mike supports censorship Mike is against a free speech and for anyone who takes that away from what I'm saying here You're just a simpleton. I don't know how else to put it I can't be more polite to you than that because this is a very nuanced issue and to me I am very concerned about freedom of speech I have very high standards for what I think should be censored or de-platformed again It goes back to the example of yelling fire in a crowded room If you use your speech in a way that causes actual Physical harm, then that's not protected under the First Amendment but Having said that though we should absolutely honor the First Amendment and Extend the principle of the First Amendment to these private companies as much as possible Because we have to protect unpopular speech as well That's incredibly important and I absolutely acknowledge that this is crucial to a democracy surviving I mean imagine if we didn't have freedom of speech during the late 1960s early 1970s after the Stonewall riots then people who spoke out on behalf of gay and trans Americans would have been censored because that would be to Grow task for humanity and you know, you can't allow them to use their speech to advocate for something that we believe is immoral So I understand that freedom of speech is important and yes That means that you protect unpopular opinions as well But I think that Aside from all of the gray area that exists here Aside from the issue of big tech companies having far too much power which Bernie speaks to which is something that we have to grapple with as a society In the few instances where there are clear-cut examples of somebody Using their speech in a way that isn't protected under the First Amendment if you incite an insurrection And you're not the president of the United States. You're gonna go to jail So the fact that Donald Trump only got banned for inciting an insurrection He should consider himself lucky now I wouldn't have advocated for Trump to be banned prior to the incitement of the interaction sure He lies on Twitter He spreads misinformation and conspiracy theories and I don't even know how you deal with that as Bernie Sanders points out What do you do and it almost seems like his position here is contradictory because on one hand He feels uncomfortable with Trump being banned But on another hand these social media platforms shouldn't allow for hate speech and conspiracy theories all of which Donald Trump spread The point is that this is all really complicated. It's not cut and dry But the Trump example I would argue is one of the more clear-cut cases and another clear-cut case That must be elevated if you truly care about free speech is BDS That is a clear-cut free speech issue and a First Amendment violation that's taking place around the country And I don't know why people focus on that less than they focus on Donald Trump getting banned or Stephen Crowder being demonetized that right there is I think Perhaps the most quintessential free speech issue in modern American times and nobody talks about that So at the end of the day, I think that what Bernie Sanders says here It's reasonable like this is a nuanced conversation There's a lot of gray area and a lot of open questions and I don't think we have answers for all of these questions You know big tech Facebook Twitter, they have a lot of control over our lives like it or not And they may be private companies But that doesn't necessarily mean that there aren't implications on our lives when they do choose to censor people arbitrarily or Unjustly it happens all the time to leftists So we have to be nuanced here and I think that Bernie Sanders is perfectly reasonable in what he says here Trump getting banned from Twitter is not the free speech issue of our time. I get Bernie Sanders Not being comfortable here because the thought process I'm assuming is wow Well, even if the president could get banned and that's got to be bad, right? That's got a mean something There's got to be broader implications that we should try to You know suss out and figure out what's going on here But on the other hand, I always ask myself if a normal person did this who has no money no fame No power whatsoever would they get away with it? So for me, I am concerned with the equitability of speech I want all of us to have equal free speech equal Ability to speak our minds and say things that are unpopular from time to time But you know how we Establish that as the new status quo in the era of the internet and big tech that is a longer It requires a longer conversation and I'll leave that there this conversation is very complex But I'm sure that many folks on Twitter will take away from this Mike supports big tech censorship Mike is an authoritarian and How about it because I think that anyone who tries to paint this as a really clear-cut issue Kind of proves how uninformed they are in general free speech issues. Even if you read Supreme Court cases There's a lot of argumentation back and forth. There's a lot of nuance It's it's complicated and grappling with the uncertainty and really living in the gray area and try Trying to figure out what does and doesn't constitute free speech and protected speech Is part of making sure we remain a free and open society and I'll leave that there The humanist report is fake news Mike only cares about crazy Bernie and his wacky socialist ideas sad verse said I'm