In a blatant attempt to pressure cable providers to censor conservative media, Democrats have penned a letter demanding to know what they intend to do about certain channels, including Fox and Newsmax, spreading ‘disinformation’.

The letter sent Monday by California Democrats Anna Eshoo and Jerry McNerney also asked satellite and digital TV providers “Are you planning to continue carrying Fox News, OANN, and Newsmax on your platform both now and beyond the renewal date? If so, why?”

Now these members of Congress want massive corporations like AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast to apply some newfound "moral or ethical principles… related to journalistic integrity" in determining what content they allow to be disseminated on their services. What a hoot! pic.twitter.com/s004glbIte

— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) February 22, 2021

The letter, which claimed the networks have spread ‘conspiracy theories’ regarding the election, was sent to Comcast, AT&T, Spectrum, Dish, Verizon, Cox and Altice, as well as digital carriers Amazon, Apple, Google, Hulu and Roku. 

The Democrats also accused conservative networks of “encouragement or incitement of violence.”

Eshoo and McNerney head the subcommittee on Communications and Technology, which will hold a hearing on “traditional media’s role in promoting disinformation and extremism” on Wednesday. 

A press release for the hearing declared that there is an “increasing reliance on conspiracy theories and misleading or patently false information” among conservative news networks, and this “raises questions about their devotion to journalistic integrity.”

Republican Brendan Carr, who sits on the Federal Communications Commission, described the Democrats’ letter as “a chilling transgression” of free speech rights.

Carr added that Democrats are “sending a message that is as clear as it is troubling—these regulated entities will pay a price if the targeted newsrooms do not conform to Democrats’ preferred political narratives.”

Carr called for the FCC to “join me in publicly denouncing this attempt to stifle political speech and independent news judgment.” 

The response on social media to the letter was led by independent journalist Glenn Greenwald:

There is no reasonable dispute that one of the top agenda items of Democrats now that they control the WH & Congress is to use their power to police and censor both social media and cable news. They're saying it explicitly. https://t.co/cfMHavJP6K

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) February 22, 2021

"journalistic integrity" like when Maddow on MSNBC babbled on about Russia "hacking the power grid" during a winter storm except like as we saw in Texas the reality was our own infrastructure took itself out and corporations made an enormous profit off of the tragedy.

— Currie Dobson (@Ventuckyspaz) February 23, 2021

"misinformation and conspiracy theories" = whatever those in charge don't like

— billy bob (@billy20151) February 23, 2021

Others noted that AT&T is the parent company of CNN, so censoring that networks direct rivals would be a bold move:

AT&T is a cable provider that also owns CNN. Ditto for Comcast and MSNBC. Federal law prohibits carriers from favoring their own networks – which they would be doing by canning FNC. You would think a congressperson would be at least vaguely familiar with FCC regulations.

— Thor Svensonn (@thorsvensonn) February 23, 2021

The Crucial Detail left out of the Representatives' Statement is while AT&T is the Parent Company of Content Distributors U-Verse, DirecTV and AT&T TV, it's also the Parent Company of CNN, which perpetuated a Russian Conspiracy Theory for the better part of 5 Years…

— Skip Coogler (@SkipCoogler) February 23, 2021

A pair of new government initiatives will see universities in the UK fined if colleges or student bodies attempt to shut down free speech on campuses, and heritage bodies sanctioned if they use funds to advance partisan political movements.

The Sunday Telegraph reported that the university measure is to be announced this week by the Education secretary Gavin Williamson, who has previously railed against the rise of ‘wokism’ and leftist cancel culture.

The report notes that “Colleges or student bodies that try to cancel, dismiss or demote people over their views will be sanctioned in a major Government escalation on the ‘war on woke’.”

Williamson’s effort will make it the duty of universities to promote free speech on campuses by allowing a broad spectrum of events and speakers, without hindrance.

The move will also see a ‘Free Speech Champion’ established on campuses as part of government’s regulatory Office for Students.

The role will be to ensure free speech isn’t impeded and that academic freedom is maintained, and to impose fines on establishments or student unions that restrict speech.

A government source told the Telegraph that “Unacceptable silencing and censoring on campuses is having a chilling effect and that is why we must strengthen free speech in higher education, by bolstering the existing legal duties and ensuring strong, robust action is taken if these are breached.”

In addition, the government will instruct heritage charities, museums and art galleries to stop ‘airbrushing’ history at the behest of the woke mob.

Culture secretary Oliver Dowden is expected to issue instructions to the National Trust, Historic England, the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Arts Council England, the National History Museum, the British Museum and the Imperial War Museum at a summit next week “to defend our culture and history from the noisy minority of activists constantly trying to do Britain down”.

The move comes after revelations that public funds are being used to pay for reviews that seek to link British heritage to ‘colonialism’ and ‘white supremacy’.

This is particularly the case in London, where the mayor Sadiq Khan has appointed a rogues gallery of woke partisans as a ‘task force’ to review whether statues and other landmarks in the city are ‘diverse enough’.

In a letter, Dowden stated “History is ridden with moral complexity and interpreting Britain’s past should not be an excuse to tell an overly-simplistic version of our national story, in which we damn the faults of previous generations whilst forgetting their many great achievements.”

“Purging uncomfortable elements of our past does nothing but damage our understanding of it,” Dowden also urged.

Responding to the government initiatives, Sir John Hayes, the chairman of the Common Sense Group of Conservative MPs said “It is absolutely right that the Government steps in to defend free speech. Without the ability to speak freely soon we will not have the ability to think freely.”

Hayes added that “universities ought to be places where ideas are to be a fulcrum for devising and testing ideas to be places of imaginings”, but noted that debate is being stifled by self appointed “thought police”.

A recent study by leading education focused think tank Civitas found that free speech at the world’s leading universities is being eroded at an alarming rate owing to the rise of “cancel culture”.

The study found that within the past three years, more than 68 per cent of universities in the UK have seen free speech severely restricted, with academics unable to meaningfully discuss the nuances of issues such as race and gender.

It is now an everyday occurrence, even at distinguished universities such as Cambridge, to see ridiculous one sided ‘discussions’ led by panels of activists who all agree on one subject, such as Winston Churchill being worse than Hitler, while speakers who disagree, or just have an opinion that isn’t robustly ‘woke’ are prevented from appearing.

A recent national poll found that half of Britons agree that freedom of speech is under direct threat from cancel culture, with only 12% feeling that they can speak more freely than five years ago.

Twitter faced ridicule after it resisted demands by the Indian government to suspend accounts for spreading “misinformation,” claiming that it cherished “free expression,” despite having removed multiple prominent accounts in the U.S. for “spreading misinformation.”

The Silicon Valley giant is in a heated dispute with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration, with the Indian government demanding it take action against over a thousand accounts it claims are “spreading misinformation” about the months-long farmers’ protests against new agricultural laws.

“The government has played hardball, sending Twitter a notice of non-compliance last week that threatens its executives with jail terms of up to seven years and the company with fines if it does not block the content,” reports Al Jazeera.

India claims the accounts, some of which are backed by Pakistan or are operated by alleged supporters of a separatist Sikh movement, are spreading fake news to destabilize the government.

Twitter responded by claiming it insists “tweets must flow,” before asserting that it wouldn’t take action against news outlets, politicians, activists and journalists.

However, we have not taken any action on accounts that consist of news media entities, journalists, activists, and politicians. We will continue to advocate for the right of free expression on behalf of the people we serve, and are exploring options under Indian law.

— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) February 10, 2021

“We have not taken any action on accounts that consist of news media entities, journalists, activists, and politicians,” said the company. “We will continue to advocate for the right of free expression on behalf of the people we serve, and are exploring options under Indian law.”

“Thank you for this – needed a good laugh,” responded Mike Cernovich.

Thank you for this – needed a good laugh.

— Mike Cernovich (@Cernovich) February 10, 2021

Twitter’s explanation for refusing to remove the accounts rings hollow given that it has repeatedly deleted accounts belonging to journalists, news outlets and politicians in the United States for spreading “misinformation.”

Indeed, President Trump’s account was permanently suspended last month for that precise reason, with Twitter claiming Trump’s tweets would lead to real world violence.

Gateway Pundit editor Jim Hoft, along with a host of other conservatives, have also been banned by Twitter for allegedly spreading “misinformation” about election fraud.

Twitter’s justification for refusing to remove accounts at the behest of the Indian government proves once again that the company operates a double standard which deliberately targets conservatives for their political opinions.

Maybe Modi’s government should just accuse the offending accounts of posting pro-Trump memes and Twitter will delete them in a heartbeat.

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