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EXCLUSIVE: Writer and former New York Times reporter Alex Berenson, who has argued with Amazon in the past, believes the company’s decision to shut down Speak illustrates how dangerous it is for Big Tech to shut down that of his choice.
Amazon Web Services’ decision to shut down Parler in the wake of the deadly January 6 riot on Capitol Hill has sparked heated debate over what is actually protected by the First Amendment. The move came shortly after Twitter banned President Trump, but Berenson believes Amazon’s decision to silence Speak is “the most dangerous thing that has happened” in the wake of the Capitol riot.
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Author and former New York Times reporter Alex Berenson, who has argued with Amazon in the past, says the company’s decision to shut down Parler is “dangerous.”
“It destroys a business,” Berenson told Fox News. “You can discuss Trump’s comments and how inflammatory they were and whether or not Twitter should have done this… but there is an argument on both sides. Talking didn’t do anything wrong. You can find everything about Talk on Twitter and Facebook. “
Berenson said he had personally received death threats on Twitter, so he didn’t want to hear that the hateful rhetoric is exclusive to Speak.
“These big social media have a lot of nasty talk about them, period. If the Speaking version of events is to be believed, they’ve been pretty responsive to Amazon,” Berenson said. “Amazon effectively destroyed an operational business within days and protected Twitter.”
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Parler is suing Amazon over its decision to sever ties, claiming the move is “motivated by political animosity” and constitutes both a breach of contract and a violation of antitrust laws. Berenson called Amazon’s move “very problematic” and isn’t even sure the company that aimed to be a non-partisan public square even did anything wrong.
“We don’t know what the Parler offense was, I mean, it’s not the dark web. It’s not designed to sell drugs, it’s a broad free speech platform that has some negative elements, as they all do. So it’s unclear what the offense of Speaking was, besides being a place the Conservatives went to gather, ”said Berenson, who has himself been subjected to Amazon’s antics.
Last summer, Berenson’s coronavirus booklet, “Unreported Truths about COVID-19 and Lockdowns: Part 1,” became the # 1 bestseller in Amazon’s Kindle store after being initially shunned by the online retailer.
Berenson, a vocal critic of the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, has learned that his booklet does not meet company guidelines.
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The former New York Times reporter quickly launched a protest on Twitter, calling the move “outrageous censorship by a company that has gained so much from the foreclosure” as millions of people are forced to shop online. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and other prominent journalists defended Berenson, and Amazon ultimately cleared the book for sale on his platform.
“It is dangerous that all this power is vested in a handful of companies, there is no doubt about it. And it’s not just freedom of speech, it’s that the Internet is so central, it’s there. ‘backbone of so many industries,’ he said. “For me, for example, if Amazon banned my book, that would be a huge problem for me. They might say, ‘OK, you can sell it on your website’, but what if the web host doesn’t m ‘not hosting? What if Square doesn’t process payments for me? “
Berenson took another dark road in November when the second installment of his booklet was released, as Amazon pulled the book out of its online store before overturning the decision. He believes his First Amendment rights would no longer matter if Amazon could permanently prevent the sale of his book.
“I can theoretically have First Amendment rights, but if companies start behaving in overtly detrimental ways based on the content of the speech, it’s a very dangerous time. And on top of that, the second danger here, which is very closely related to the first, is that the people who should keep free speech, many of them are either neutral on this or in favor of this, ”Berenson said, noting that members of the liberal media from mainstream media such as the Times and CNN have applauded the censorship.
Berenson believes the tragic riot on Capitol Hill “emboldened the left”, allowing media and big tech liberals to get away with blatant attempts to silence Tories.
“There is a lot of anger against Trump on the left, there is a lot of anger against the conservatives on the left, and what happened has upset a lot of people, including a lot of Republicans, it angered a lot of people and has provided cover for some very aggressive stocks that may not look so good in a few months, ”Berenson said.
“We are in a dangerous place.”
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As for Speak, company CEO John Matze registered his domain with host sharing website Epik last week, following Amazon Web Services’ decision to shut down Speak for failure to moderate “blatant content” linked at the Capitol riot. Matze argued that his business won’t be gone for long.
“I have no doubts that by the end of the month we’ll be back,” Matze told Fox News in a telephone interview Sunday night.
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