Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, vowed to investigate Big Tech's censorship of conservatives after Newsmax was dropped by AT&T DirecTV.
"Today as Ranking Member of the @SenateCommerce Committee I opened an investigation into Big Tech's censorship," Cruz tweeted Monday night. "We are going to see accountability, transparency, and we're going to shine a light on Big Tech's efforts to silence conservatives."
Republicans in Congress also want to probe DirecTV and parent company AT&T for similar censorship of Newsmax.
DirecTV customers call toll free at 877-763-9762 to complain, demand Newsmax is returned! Oppose censorship – sign The Petition – Click Here
DirecTV has claimed Newsmax and OAN were removed from its lineup as "cost-cutting" measures at the same time the company reported profits last year of $2.7 billion.
DirecTV also claimed Newsmax was demanding "excessive fees" that would cost in the "tens of millions" of dollars.
Newsmax has denied these claims, saying it was seeking a fee of about $1 per cable subscriber per year, among the lowest fees asked for in cable, and that total amount of the deal was a fraction of "tens of millions."
"This was never about the fees being excessive," said Chris Ruddy, CEO of Newsmax. "DirecTV's position has always been that Newsmax of all cable news channels should never get any cable fee whatsoever, not one penny."
DirecTV continues to carry 22 left-leaning news channels, many with much lower ratings than Newsmax. Those channels get license fees.
Citing the Commerce Committee's jurisdiction over "half the U.S. economy, including all of telecom and all of Big Tech," Cruz told Fox News the recent Twitter Files (internal company records) offered a road map to go after Facebook, Google, YouTube TikTok, and all of Big Tech "that is trying to silence conservatives."
"Elon Musk's buying Twitter is a game changer because he's done something that the Big Tech oligarchs never thought would happen, which is he's gone open kimono," Cruz said. "He's exposed the corruption, he's exposed the censorship, he's exposed the collusion with Democrats in Congress, the collusion with the Biden White House, the collusion with the Deep State at the FBI, the CIA, and the DOJ.
"And now, we have the evidence, we have the emails, and it's clear when Democrats said to move, Big Tech said, 'How high?' They jump on command."
Actions to Take Now
1. DirecTV customers call toll free at 877-763-9762 to complain, demand Newsmax is back on air!
2. Call your congressman or senator at 202-224-3121 and demand they stop AT&T/DirecTV's censorship of NEWSMAX — ask them to give you a date on the hearings!
3. Go to our online petition and get more info: iWantNewsmax.com.
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