In yet another example of Big Tech censoring conservatives and conservative causes, on Thursday, the pro-life group Live Action announced that TikTok had banned their platform from posting advertisements. The organization's announcement had strong words for the social media outlet, referring to the move as "yet another attempt to silence pro-life speech." This comes after Lila Rose, the president and founder, was also recently banned from the platform.
What makes censoring Live Action even more problematic is that they refer to themselves as "the only pro-life organization with a large following on the platform, and spreading facts about abortion is vital on that platform specifically."
The announcement explained that the content is available, for those who search for it. Live Action is, however, blocked from expanding their reach to new viewers who may be persuaded by the pro-life message. as the group looks to reach as many young people as possible.
This is a particularly key demographic that the pro-life movement is trying to reach. "By censoring the most prominent digital pro-life group in America, TikTok and its Big Tech allies are trying to muzzle the pro-life message from reaching young people of reproductive age," the announcement warned.
When it comes to this one-sided censorship, Planned Parenthood, which performs more abortions than any other entity in the country, "continues to be allowed to freely run pro-abortion ads to youth on TikTok, while Live Action’s ads that save the lives of preborn children have been completely censored," the announcement also lamented.
In a statement, Rose highlighted how this is a pattern from Big Tech when it comes to censoring pro-lifers. "Unfortunately, censorship is nothing new to us. Large technology companies play an ever larger role in our lives, including by deciding what information we come in contact with. We must rise against this unjust censorship. While we respectfully demand the reinstatement of our ads on TikTok, we will also proactively work to expand our reach on all of our other platforms," she said.
She also further called for reaching people with digital pro-life content to change their hearts and minds on abortion. "We believe that one crucial step towards ending abortion in our country is saturating the online market with powerful and transformative pro-life content that counters pro-abortion lies and is proven to change minds and save lives. We work hard to reach young people to expose the abortion industry and reveal the beauty of new life from the moment of fertilization. The longer we are suppressed on TikTok, the more lives that will be lost to abortion. The censorship must end," Rose continued.
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) tweeted out his outrage not long after the announcement was made, which included a retweet of Rose explaining what it is, exactly, that TikTok is so afraid to allow.
This is wrong. @LiveAction does great work exposing the evils of the abortion industry. Is Big Tech afraid their users might become more pro-life? https://t.co/F4aoVaEqXm
— Dr. Roger Marshall (@RogerMarshallMD) August 4, 2022
Live Action has faced other forms of censorship from other platforms, as have other pro-life groups. SBA Pro-Life America has a timeline going back to 2015, when Live Action and Rose were banned from running paid pro-life advertisements on Twitter.
The timeline also indicates that SBA Pro-Life America was banned from TikTok in June 2022, though the account was mysteriously reinstated without explanation.
The pro-life movement, including Live Action, is also facing censorship from Google, another form of discrimination that has been going on for years. It's now extending to pro-life pregnancy centers which offer life-affirming options for women.
I led a group of 17 Attorneys General urging @Google not to censor crisis pregnancy centers, because our country will not survive if we simply erase opinions we disagree with. pic.twitter.com/rX6xgAjZYS
— Jason Miyares (@JasonMiyaresVA) July 26, 2022
In recent months, Republican attorney generals, though, are fighting back, via a July 21 letter led by Virginia's Attorney General Jason Miyares, with 17 others signing on.
The letter warned that should Google cave "to left-wing political pressure," the attorney generals "must avail ourselves of all lawful and appropriate means of protecting the rights of our constituents, of upholding viewpoint diversity, free expression, and the freedom of religion for all Americans, and of making sure that our markets are free in fact, not merely in theory."
Political pressure should not dictate what appears in @Google searches. Censoring crisis pregnancy centers is wrong.
— Jason Miyares (@JasonMiyaresVA) July 21, 2022
Google has two choices - protect the marketplace of ideas or face the legal consequences. https://t.co/5p2omSkApJ
Live Action is known for investigative video projects, as well as other projects where they talk to everyday people on the street to educate them about abortion, often changing their minds in the process.
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