Date: January 25, 2021 For Immediate Release
Braynard on Fighting Corporate Censorship: “We have a plan, and it’s time to act!”
Washington DC— Look Ahead America has released its plan for fighting corporate censorship and is calling on patriots everywhere to join the effort. “Social media networks, tech companies, and financial institutions are not entitled to tax dollars paid by citizens whom they censor, blacklist, and deplatform for engaging in legal speech and political activity,” said Look Ahead America Executive Director Matt Braynard. “So we’re calling on citizens to lobby state legislatures to declare government money and contracts off limits to such companies.” “We’ve released a list of policy objectives to guide legislation on this issue covering everything from marketing spending, technology contracts, and divestment. And we’re training citizens on how to be grassroots lobbyists to advocate for these reforms at the state capitols.” Look Ahead America will be hosting its first free, online-training session on how citizens can become grassroots lobbyist on Wednesday, January 27, and has released a copy of the policy objectives on its website, lookaheadamerica.org/speech.
MATT BRAYNARD is the former Director of Data and Strategy for President Trump’s 2016 Campaign, was the director and founder of the Voter Integrity Project in the aftermath of the 2020 general election, and is the founder and executive director of Look Ahead America, a 501c3 organization dedicated to voter integrity, patriotic issues, and registering, educating, and turning out to vote disaffected, patriotic Americans.
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Look Ahead America Patriot Action: Fighting Corporate Censorship by Establishing Free Speech States
State Legislative Policy Objectives: While private corporations are free to regulate the speech that occurs on their platforms and choose who they will or will not hire or transact business with, they are not entitled to enrich themselves with tax dollars paid by the same people whom they are denying the exercise of Constitutionally-protected speech, political activity, and gainful employment. The remedy to this problem is the establishment of “Free Speech States” with state-level legislation that prohibits the following: Government Spending on Social Networks that Censor Legal Speech. No state agency or subordinate government (county, city, municipality, etc.) may allocate taxpayer money for marketing or any other purpose to a corporation that runs a publicly available social network where legal, constitutionally-protected speech is censored. Contracting with Corporations Engaged in De-Platforming. No state agency or subordinate government shall contract with any corporation providing technical or other services that denies services on the basis of legally protected speech, political activity, or operating a legal business. Conducting Business with Blacklisting Financial Institutions. The state and all subordinate governments shall hold no accounts and shall permit no state finances to transact using banks, payment processors, or other financial institutions that blacklist customers on the basis of legal speech, constitutionally protected political activity, or operating a legal business. Contracting with Corporations that Engage in Political Employment Discrimination. The state and all subordinate governments shall be prohibited from contracting with any corporation that has fired or discriminates in hiring on the basis of an individual’s exercise of legally protected speech or political activity. Investment in Anti-Free Speech Corporations. The state and all subordinate governments shall not invest pension, rainy day, or any other funds in corporations that censor legally protected speech or political activity among their employees or users of their services, and the state and subordinate governments shall divest all funds currently invested in such corporations. Further, such legislation must include the following provisions to ensure the fulfillment of the intent of the above prohibitions: Prevention of Sub-Contractor Loopholes. All of the listed prohibitions are applicable to any contractor or sub-contractor engaging in work on behalf of the state. Support for Reporting Violations and Legal Protection for Alleging Violations. The state must provide a reasonable means of and support for making allegations of violations of the listed prohibitions and offer legal and privacy protections to individuals who make such allegations. Allocation of State Resources for Enforcement. The state shall assign staff and financial resources as is necessary to ensure that these prohibitions are enforced. A Speedy Timeline for Enactment of Prohibitions. While these prohibitions cannot be enacted overnight as the state must disentangle relationships that are in violation of the prohibitions and must find alternative service providers, no longer than one year should be allowed for this transition.