GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is everywhere spreading his anti-wake message far and wide, including on social media. Inevitably, big tech censorship would rear its ugly head on him, but who would have thought he’d come from job search site LinkedIn?
The millennial candidate was restricted for more than a week for expressing factual opinions on China and climate change. No one told Vivek that LinkedIn is only a place for HR puppets to talk about “work-life balance” and “leading from behind” and “inclusive hiring practices.”
Thankfully, Vivek’s account is active again, but it wasn’t until the candidate blasted the screenshots of what was deemed ‘hateful’ that the social media site brought it back to life. So, let’s take a look at what LinkedIn thought was so terrible it needed immediate censorship.
Big Tech’s election interference has begun: @LinkedIn blocked my account and censored me this week for posting videos expressing factual opinions as a presidential candidate on climate policy and Biden’s relations with China. They said he violated his policies related to… pic.twitter.com/ND2dFVnGAg
—Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) May 25, 2023
open to censorship
Vivek Ramaswamy’s LinkedIn account was censored for more than a week for what the tech giant claimed was “disinformation” and “hate speech.”
The three lines with which the company disagreed were:
- “The CCP is playing the Biden administration like a Chinese mandolin.”
- “If climate religion was really about climate change, then they would be concerned about, for example, shifting oil production from the US to places like Russia and China.”
- “The climate agenda is a lie: Fossil fuels are a requirement for human prosperity.”
Wow, those are some violence-inducing statements! I think the first one is epic; Not enough people use the Chinese mandolin in everyday insults against political opponents.
Mr. Ramaswamy received a notice from LinkedIn informing him:
“Your account was banned for repeatedly sharing content that contains misleading or inaccurate information.”
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Vivek asked what was misleading in his statements, to which he received the following:
“We do not tolerate misinformation, hate speech, violence or any form of abuse on our platform. We understand that this might not be the answer you wanted, but we work to apply our policies fairly and consistently to all of our members.”
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Since when is it inaccurate to counter liberal views? Since when is it violent or abusive to say that you disagree with the left? Welcome back to early 1984, where LinkedIn is our Ministry of Truth.
It’s no mystery why LinkedIn censored me for criticizing China’s influence on Biden and climate change policies. This is amazing. https://t.co/WW32P7XSOQ
—Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) May 25, 2023
It is not an error
After criticizing LinkedIn for its explicit political censorship, a spokesperson for the site said:
“Account was restricted by mistake and is now backed up.”
Now @LinkedIn (property of @Microsoft) is trying to claim that his decision to censor me was a “mistake”. This is ridiculous. On May 17th we noticed that my account was locked. A LinkedIn employee said it was because he had posted videos that contained “misleading or inaccurate information.” Us…
—Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) May 26, 2023
It sure didn’t seem like a mistake; the company took the time to sponsor Mr. Ramaswamy in responding to him about what justified restricting him in the first place. It seems the mistake was in censoring someone with a sizeable audience on other sites.
Mr. Ramaswamy explained what this recent action by LinkedIn is all about:
“This is the embodiment of what is wrong with America: an arranged marriage between Big Tech and the Left, together achieving what neither could alone.”
He went on to illustrate:
“These are so-called private companies, or publicly traded private companies, that are doing government work through the back door, silencing speech that the government would never dare censor.”
Now that I think about it… What happened to all those ex-CIA and FBI agents who had cushy jobs at Twitter before Elon released the blue bird? Perhaps LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman saw his “Open for Work” banner.
RELATED: Real Fascism: DHS and FBI Work Directly with Social Media Companies to Censor and Suppress Information
a side hustle
LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman is your typical tech giant billionaire. In addition to having visited Jeffrey Epstein’s private island of debauchery, he is a heavyweight, literally, in Democratic campaign donations.
Last year he donated more than $4 million to the 2022 Democratic midterm races. Mr. Hoffman also told a reporter recently about his participation in the upcoming presidential race:
“The short answer is that I will spend everything I can and that is necessary and effective to beat Trump.”
And so it begins…
LinkedIn censors presidential candidate who says fossil fuels are ‘required for prosperity’
LinkedIn, whose founder Reid Hoffman bankrolled the ‘Russian bot’ hoax against Republican candidate Roy Moore that bankrolled the lawsuit by Trump accuser E. Jean Carrol, has blocked the account of…— Lawyer for Laws (@lawyer4laws) May 25, 2023
This isn’t the first time LinkedIn has censored conservative voices. For example, in 2021, LinkedIn came under so much congressional scrutiny for blocking reporters and researchers critical of the CCP that they had to shut down their Chinese site.
Last year, Code of Vets founder and Air Force veteran Gretchen Smith made headlines when she was censured for expressing her views on Biden’s student debt bailout:
“I am not responsible for your student debt. I grew up poor in North Carolina. I ate from a garden, the name was in the Angel Tree community for Christmas, I bought clothes at garage sales and, if I was lucky, on a rare occasion, Sky City. I joined the Air Force and then went to college. I made it happen.”
LinkedIn called the post “hate speech.” And earlier this year, Olympian Gabby Franco was censored because, in a posting photo, she was holding two firearms, polling her followers for her weapon of choice.
RELATED: Elon Musk Turns Down Twitter Board Job, LinkedIn Censors Code Of Vets Founder: Is There Still Hope For Free Speech?
Point
Mr. Ramaswamy explained to a CNBC panel of talking heads:
“Free speech is not meant for the speech we love. It’s meant for the speech we don’t love.”
We live in a sad world where people need to be reminded of this simple fact. Vivek may not be “open to work,” but he is open to running: he encourages this free-speech absolutist to see how far he can go.
Introduce yourself on college campuses. The inner city. Left-wing media. As candidates we have to go where we are told *not* to go. That’s the only way to revive open debate, free speech – the very ideals this nation was founded on. pic.twitter.com/jy22L2ak7D
—Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) May 25, 2023
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