Joseph Vazquez - Associate Editor MRC (Media Research Center) Joins Houston's Morning News

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I like it's going to lose to the right by
fifty two starts time here in Houston's Warning News, and
evidently that's the direction big tech is going an unprecedented
moved to the right this election cycle. Joining us as
Joseph Vasquez, Associate editor at MRC, that's the Media Research Center. Joseph,
Welcome to the show.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
You know, when you think of big tech, you think
of the Bill Gates of the world, and and and
and those people are moving to the right. So who is.

Speaker 3 (00:27):
Well, I gotta tell you, like, you know, this development
is you know, is definitely shocking. You know, I was
just looking at a survey that was taken by the
Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and they found an
apparently free speech is I think the second most second
most important issue for voters, you know, for the upcoming election,

(00:50):
which is astounding, and I think a lot of it
has to do with the fact that the Republicans and
President Trump for that matter, have put a spotlight on
how much of a threat you know to people's First
Amendment rights, you know that big tech is. And so
what I think is happening, and this is just my theory,
is that big tech is hedging their bets. They read
the tea leave. They know that could possibly be a

(01:12):
massive swing and administration in Washington, d C. Both in
Congress and in the White House. So they're trying to
hedge their pets and creat favor with the administration because
President Trump is already you know, for example, it's threatened
lawfare against Google for interfering in the election. So and
we know the Republicans have held hearings on you know,
on big tech censoring speech. So it makes sense what

(01:34):
big tech is trying to hedge their bets now. So
definitely interesting well big tech.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
Big tech. Also I think this theory big tech cannot
shut down somebody like a Joe Rogan in his podcast.
He's got too many followers, He's got more than the
network's combined. So how to it makes a lot of
sense when Donald Trump goes on Joe Rogan today, what
of course big tech is going to suddenly start shifting

(02:01):
in that direction. Nineteen million followers is a lot of money.

Speaker 3 (02:05):
Exactly right. I mean, like, you know, the explosion of
alternative media, people are you know, big tech CEOs are
realizing that they don't have as much control over the
narrative as they used to have. And I think, you know,
for example, that Elon Musk kind of started, you know,
at least in the at least in Silicon Valley, this
trend where you know this, you know, this emphasis on
free speech takes place over curring, over trying to appease

(02:28):
you know, government pressure in Washington. You know, when we
have these dystopian enterprises at the president that Biden administration
has been orchestrated and colluding with big tech companies to
sensor speech. You know, Elon Musk has kind of risen
as kind of a crusader against that, and I guess
big six CEOs are look at that and you know,
probably wanting to follow suit as well. But as you said,
you know, the explosion of alternative media platforms like what

(02:50):
Joe Rogan has, you know, big tech doesn't have as
much of the monopoly on speech as it used to.
So it's definitely a welcome development to see that because
that means there seems to be a bit more emphasis
on free speech, which is what conservatives have been have
been you know, really adamant about in Silicon Valley. And

(03:11):
to see free speech is the second most important issue
that is huge and I think the big six CEOs
are looking at that and saying, you know what, you
probably should you probably need to start edging up that,
especially if Americans are starting to pay more attention to
what we're doing with their speech.

Speaker 1 (03:27):
So, in other words, they haven't really changed their minds,
changed their opinions. But maybe maybe big government in Washington,
d C. Has made them a little bit nervous. Maybe
all the things the Biden administration asked them to do
finally has made them a little bit nervous as saying,
you know what, how how far are they willing to
push us, you know, bidding who's bidding? What we have
to do next? Exactly?

Speaker 3 (03:48):
Well, Mark Zuckerberg had said it himself. He regretted the
fact that his platform Meta had catered so much to
the you know, to the whims of the Biden administration
on COVID nineteen and other things, and it really just show, oh,
you know, this is a dystopian enterprise that is taking
place in Washington, and you know that makes people incredibly nervous.
You know. George Rowell said in nineteen eighty four that

(04:08):
the revolution will be complete when the language is perfect,
And I'd like to think that there are some tech
CEOs with a conference that don't want to see a
dystopian society, you know, fully take place here in the
United States, where we put such an emphasis on free speech.
So I'm praying, I'm praying that a lot of tech CEOs,
you know, start realizing that free speech is paramount to

(04:28):
our free society. So exactly welcome to development.

Speaker 1 (04:31):
Will see what happens, all right, Joseph, Thank you. Joseph Asquez.
So she had editor at the Media Research Center. It's
five fifty seven