Paul has long warned of what he sees as government censorship creeping into social media and other online outlets, in an effort to block “disfavored speech on topics from COVID-19 to U.S. elections.”
The senator's latest legislative push on the issue is one that would allow for punishment of federal employees or contractors who use their positions to “attack speech.”
"Private companies can decide what they want to air, newspapers can, television shows can, but what we can't allow to happen is the government to collude with private business and use them basically as their extension or their arm of censor," Paul told Fox News.
The libertarian-leaning senator has knocked heads with social media companies in the past.
In 2021, Paul took aim at YouTube for removing a video posted to his channel about the effectiveness of masking, arguing he was presenting an “alternative view.” YouTube responded, saying the video ran afoul of the company’s rules.
“We removed content from Senator Paul’s channel for including claims that masks are ineffective in preventing the contraction or transmission of COVID-19, in accordance with our COVID-19 medical misinformation policies,” YouTube said in a statement at the time. “We apply our policies consistently across the platform, regardless of speaker or political views.”
The lawmaker has also spread views on election fraud online that UK elections specialist Josh Douglas said amounted to "lying."
However, the lawmaker has also opposed efforts to ban social media apps, as he did with TikTok earlier this year. Paul blocked a bid to fast-track a ban on the popular Chinese-owned app, arguing, "we should beware of those who use fear to coax Americans to relinquish our liberties."
Paul argued in a Courier Journal op-ed that barring use of TikTok would mirror censorship by the Chinese government. But he also sees echoes of Russian-style censorship in Biden administration policies.
Again regarding the pandemic, Paul wrote, "In America, we have not yet granted government the police power to criminalize misinformation, but not for trying. The American Left believes that the public should be protected from anyone who questions COVID-19 orthodoxy."
