I guess the Federal Communications Commission could sorta maybe have something to do with a social media platform in terms of purchases, but, as usual, a Leftist group went bat guano insane
Brendan Carr, a commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), rejected a left-leaning organization’s claim that the FCC has the authority to block Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, in part because Musk also owns Starlink.
After Twitter accepted Musk’s $44 billion offer Monday, the Open Markets Institute warned that the deal represents a threat to “American democracy and free speech,” suggested the deal is illegal, and argued that the federal government has the power to block it.
“The Open Markets Institute believes the deal poses a number of immediate and direct threats to American democracy and free speech,” OMI Director Barry Lynn said in a statement. “Open Markets also believes the deal violates existing law, and that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have ample authority to block it.”
A threat to democracy? Really? This has become a kneejerk response from American moonbats to anything they disagree with, even though a) we do not have a democracy and b) there’s zero threat except in their moonbat minds. Take a look at the news media in other countries. You aren’t seeing the same hysteria about the purchase of Twitter in Britain, France, Germany, or anywhere else. A threat to free speech? Yes, Progressives do see having more free speech as a threat to free speech.
Lynn ended the letter by encouraging the federal government not just to block Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, but to regulate Facebook, Google, and Amazon by firmly reestablishing “clear bans on any manipulation of communications by essential platforms, and to eliminate all business models that rely on such manipulation.”
See, what OMI really wants is government control of those companies, meaning that far left bureaucrats will set the terms for manipulation.
Brendan Carr, a Trump-appointed FCC commissioner, shot down Lynn’s claim as “absurd.”
“The FCC has no authority to block Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, and to suggest otherwise is absurd,” Carr said in a statement Wednesday. “I would welcome the full FCC making it clear that we will not entertain these types of frivolous arguments.”
It is absurd, it is frivolous. OMI barely makes a decent argument, you can feel Lynn screeching while typing it. The article includes some of the letter, but, really needed this whole paragraph
The most obvious problem is that the deal would give to a single man – one who already wields immense political and economic power – direct control over one of world’s most important platforms for public communications and debate. As has been true from the Founding, the American people have an absolute right to ensure the full openness and neutrality of all essential public infrastructure. Specific to communications, we see this in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, in the Telegraph acts of 1860 and 1866, the Mann-Elkins Act of 1910, the Communications Act of 1934, and many other federal and state laws. Americans have also repeatedly used our antitrust laws to prevent concentrations of power over communications, speech, debate, and news.
Interestingly, the same moonbats, including OMI, have had no problem with the way Twitter and others censor those they disagree with. The bigger one is calling Twitter, and the others, “public infrastructure.” They really do think it’s essential to government. That it should be run by government. Loony tunes.
Read: Moonbat Group Petitions FCC To Block Musk’s Twitter Purchase, Gets Shot Down »