Many of you have asked about claims made by Tucker Carlson that Sen. Mike Lee “has taken the side of big tech companies over your constitutional rights.”

Nothing could be further from the truth.

To better understand what is really going on, please do read the following fact check of Tucker Carlson’s claims below.

Tucker: “Thanks to a special carve out Google has received from the United States Congress, something called Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, Google itself is not responsible for the content on its platform because the Congress says it doesn’t have to be.”

Reality: Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act was passed by Congress in 1996. Google didn't even exist until 1998. Since Section 230 was passed two years before Google even existed it is impossible for it to be a “special carve out Google” received from the government. Section 230 protects online platforms (like a website, app, etc.) from being liable for the content created by someone on their online platform. Under Section 230, all companies operating online platforms are responsible for their own content that they create on their platform. But they are not responsible for the content that is created by another person or company who uses their platform. The person who creates the content is responsible for the content.

Tucker: “Immunity is a very nice thing to have if you are a big company, Fox News doesn’t have it. But again, thanks to Congress Google does have immunity.”

Reality: Section 230 applies to all companies equally. When Fox News operates its website, they do in fact have the exact same Section 230 protections that Google does. FoxNews.com has a comments section. And just as Google would be immune from any slanderous comments made by a commenter in a YouTube comments section, FoxNews.com is also immune from any slanderous comment made by a commenter in their comments section.

Tucker: “We would love to ask Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) about this… Why do we ask him? Because Lee chairs the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee. He is the man that could do something to protect you from Google.”

Reality: Section 230 is telecommunications law. It has nothing to do with antitrust law. The Communications Decency Act is under the jurisdiction of the Senate Commerce Committee, not the Senate Judiciary Committee or the Antitrust Subcommittee. If people believe Section 230 is the key to protecting the American people from Google then they should look to amend communications law, not antitrust law.

Sen. Lee does share Tucker’s concern about liberal progressive bias at Google, Facebook, Twitter, NBC News, CBS News, ABC News, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and National Public Radio.

What the NBC News’ “Verification Unit” tried to do to The Federalist is absolutely a threat to honest and open speech in the United States. Conservatives should speak out against progressive attempts to silence conservative voices. And Sen. Lee did exactly that.

But our nation’s antitrust laws, the Sherman Act, the Clayton Act, and the Federal Trade Commission Act, were not designed, nor are they equipped, to regulate political bias in technology or media companies.

If we are going to be successful in protecting Americans constitutional rights against progressive activists that want to silence Americans they disagree with, we need to be accurately informed about what the real dangers to our civil rights are. If we waste our time misunderstanding when laws were passed, why they were passed, and what they actually do, we will only make it easier for progressives to win.

If you want to read more about Sen. Lee’s thoughts on how Antitrust law should be applied to Big Tech, please read this interview: CPI Talks… with Senator Mike Lee