A video released by a group called America’s Frontline Doctors featured several doctors and medical professionals espousing their professional opinions on COVID-19 treatments, including positive claims on using the drug hydroxychloroquine. It received millions of views on social media before it was suddenly removed yesterday by the Big Tech censors.

The social media — or rather socialist media — giants Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube all removed the video for, as a Facebook spokesman put it, “sharing false information about cures and treatments for COVID-19.” Twitter temporarily suspended Donald Trump Jr.‘s account for sharing the video, and it similarly justified its censorship by claiming the video violated its “COVID-19 misinformation policy.”

Whether the video presented “misinformation” is really not the issue. The actual issue is that leftist-run Big Tech, which has what essentially amounts to monopolistic control of social media, is regularly engaging in blatant censorship. Having cornered the market, these progressive “do-gooders” are using their power to infringe on Americans’ free speech. And no matter their justification of seeking to “protect” Americans from “misinformation” or “hate” speech, their aim is obviously politically motivated. Put simply, Big Tech censors do not believe in free speech; they desire to control speech.

Regarding the tired claim that Big Tech’s censorship doesn’t infringe upon Americans’ free-speech rights because these are private companies and not the government, Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson cogently notes, “Censorship is always bad, whether it’s imposed by Congress or whether it’s imposed by monopolies that only exist because they receive special carve-outs granted to them by Congress.” And as we regularly argue, Big Tech’s monopolistic control of social media is the crux of the issue, in large part because these companies have been able to play themselves off as a mere public platform, while at the same time claiming the right to control content under the status of publisher.

Meanwhile, Big Tech’s leaders appeared before the House Antitrust Subcommittee this morning over concerns that their monopolistic power is preventing fair and genuine competition. “They are doing it in a way that’s designed to reduce competition,” argued Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO). “As it appears to me now, there’s a need for action and for updating the law.”

The struggle will be getting Democrats and Republicans to agree on what measures to take. Both sides are critical of the fact that these companies are essentially monopolies, but Democrats complain of Big Tech not doing enough to stop the spread of “misinformation” and online “hate,” while Republicans argue that censorship is the problem. Therefore, trust-busting may be the only solution both can agree to implement.

(Visit our comprehensive CV19 Pandemic response and recovery page to review our comprehensive timeline on government and political actions related to the pandemic, and see our related pages.