#FreeCandace!

Earlier today, Candace Owens was banned from Twitter, where she has 2.2 million followers, because she encouraged Michigan residents to go back to work. This was the offending tweet:

That reminds us of the fact that the two California doctors who posted an hour-long video on YouTube challenging the government’s shutdown narrative were similarly banned. YouTube has taken down their video wherever they have found it. Yet these are two eminently qualified physicians talking about their own personal experience with COVID-19, as well as publicly available data on the virus in the U.S. and other countries.

In both cases, social media platforms acted against their financial interests–Owens is one of Twitter’s top stars, and the doctors’ video had millions of views–in order to advance a political agenda. That agenda is pro-government, pro-statist, anti-liberty.

What was Twitter’s excuse? The only plausible one is that Owens was encouraging civil disobedience. (That doesn’t apply to the California physicians, obviously.) But there are a couple of problems with that justification. First, Twitter is happy to publish countless tweets that encourage illegal aliens to disregard our immigration laws, support sanctuary cities, and so on. The difference is solely political. The people who run Twitter are leftists.

Second, the shutdown orders by Governor Whitmer in Michigan and other governors are extremely controversial, legally as well as politically. Does a governor really have the power, consistent with the federal constitution or, in some cases, with state constitutions, to order most businesses to close and nearly all social activity to cease?

That suggestion would have come as a surprise to the founders. In a number of states, legal actions are underway challenging the legality of shutdown orders. Here in Minnesota, I expect such a lawsuit to be filed next week. Twitter’s apparent position, that the appropriateness and legality of harsh shutdown orders are beyond debate, is ridiculous.

#FreeCandace is trending on Twitter, and Donald Trump, Jr. weighed in on her behalf:


The fact that all of our major social media platforms are run by leftists who try to use their power to elect left-wing candidates cannot be seriously disputed. Ironically, perhaps, the pathetic performances by YouTube and Twitter in connection with coronavirus-related controversies will only add momentum to those who argue for some kind of government intervention.

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