Apr 11, 2019 - Technology

Podcast: Republicans vs. social media

Dan and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) discuss allegations of political bias against social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, which was the subject yesterday of a Capitol Hill hearing that Cruz chaired.

  • Cruz highlights several anecdotes of arguable bias, but acknowledges that he doesn't have statistical evidence of bias.
  • He and fellow Republicans want data from the platforms in order to validate or invalidate claims of political bias, including the number and partisan breakdown of blocked posts from elected office-holders.
  • Cruz didn't specifically answer if he thinks big tech companies like Amazon and Facebook should be broken up, saying his recent retweet of Elizabeth Warren was more about speech protection.
  • But he did say in yesterday's hearing that today's big tech companies are larger than were Standard Oil or AT&T when they were broken up.
  • Perhaps most importantly, Cruz said he was willing to accept blame for Texas Tech's loss on Monday night, so long as he gets credit when Texas teams win.
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