NPR comes for Ben Shapiro's Daily Wire in the name of combating 'misinformation' (and Shapiro has thoughts)

Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire has done quite well on Facebook. In fact, it’s thrived.

And NPR is apparently envious. So envious, in fact, that they’ve published a piece complaining about how popular it is and not-so-subtly suggesting that something ought to be done about it. You know, because the sort of person who would consume information from The Daily Wire probably isn’t smart or perceptive enough to realize the awful conservative nature of that information.

“They tend to not provide very much context for the information that they are providing,” said [Jaime Settle, the director of the Social Networks and Political Psychology Lab at The College of William & Mary in Virginia]. “If you’ve stripped enough context away, any piece of truth can become a piece of misinformation.”

Publicly the site does not purport to be a traditional news source. On its ‘About’ page, the site declares, “The Daily Wire does not claim to be without bias,” and goes on to say, “We’re opinionated, we’re noisy, and we’re having a good time.”

It’s not clear that the millions of people engaging with the site’s news stories every month recognize that. The Daily Wire’s content looks no different in Facebook’s newsfeed than an article from a local newspaper, making it potentially difficult to distinguish between more and less reliable or biased information sources.

And obviously, any information filtered through a conservative lens is bad. Dangerous, even.

Needless to say, Ben Shapiro has thoughts:

This piece is a master class in how the establishment media (in this case, publicly funded!) seek to label everything they don't like "misinformation," and then suppress it. They're coming for freedom of the press. And they're not hiding the ball. https://t.co/42LHHw6aAL

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) July 19, 2021

According to NPR, Facebook should presumably suppress us because we are overtly conservative. Not because of "misinformation." Because we are conservative. We make no bones about this. pic.twitter.com/gjJu3eqifQ

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) July 19, 2021

If you’re puzzled by conservatives opposing gov’t-influenced “misinformation” censorship, even in a public health crisis, consider: That term has been repeatedly expanded/abused/misapplied for political reasons. Issues like climate & guns are also labeled “public health crises”… https://t.co/g0VdPLjF1T

— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) July 19, 2021

Even if we set aside free speech implications & huge problems with executive branch bullying private companies (“killing people”) into performing censorship, the mission creep fear isn’t potential or hypothetical. It’s already here. We’ve seen it with our own eyes…

— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) July 19, 2021

And I say this as someone who has taken COVID seriously, promotes the vaccines & generally tries to use my platforms responsibly to help disseminate good information & counter misleading/bad stuff. Opposition to censorship =/= “pro misinformation/conspiracies.”

— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) July 19, 2021

Feel familiar?

It's also identical to the arguments used by the Chinese Communist Party to defend its massive censorship apparatus. Facts are so dangerous they can only be handled by State-certified Dispensers of Truth and Context. https://t.co/HPip1UNinn

— John Hayward (@Doc_0) July 19, 2021

Nice company you keep, NPR.

The NPR is a political activist org… Like all journalistic orgs… So misinterpreting, misinformation, straight up lying…. It's their business model

— Ahmed Al Asliken (@assliken) July 19, 2021

Basically every Democrat complaint about Facebook…EVER SINGLE ONE…assumes they are a publisher.

Either they are a publisher, or they aren't. But people need to choose which.

In short, Dems now hold a similar position to regulation of social media as DONALD TRUMP.

— Pradheep J. Shanker (@Neoavatara) July 19, 2021

There’s a feather in the Left’s cap!

"The Daily Wire did not respond to interview requests from NPR for this story."

DW: pic.twitter.com/xwBgzMVpDf

— Troy A. Sing🇺🇲 (@TroySing) July 19, 2021

If NPR still wants comment from the Daily Wire, this should suffice:

The founders could hardly have been expected to foresee that the chief advocates for suppression of informational distribution would be members of the press. But that's where we are. And they're making no bones about it.

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) July 19, 2021

Right now, the WH is saying it wants to press social media into suppressing "misinformation" about covid (the White House should not be in the business of directing social media companies to suppress information, period). But this isn't truly about covid.

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) July 19, 2021

The NPR article is giving away the game. So is Kara Swisher at the NYT, who wrote this just today, in an article titled "‘They’re Killing People’? Biden Isn’t Quite Right, but He’s Not Wrong." pic.twitter.com/zVHzEywEHl

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) July 19, 2021

The idea here is that Facebook and the social media companies have centralized distribution of information; Democrats and the establishment media wish to restore their monopoly on informational dissemination by pressuring Facebook to do their bidding.

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) July 19, 2021

And the most hilarious thing is that they're supposedly doing all this in the name of ending "polarization." That's because if you suppress your opposition, polarization ends: you now have a unipolar monopoly! Disappearing those who disagree does indeed end "polarization."

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) July 19, 2021

The only costs are freedom of speech and the press, open discussion, and an ability for us to live with each other while tolerating different viewpoints. Oh well. At least the Democrats will maintain their agitprop empire and the establishment media will restore their monopoly.

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) July 19, 2021

Bottom line: subscribe to the informational outlets you like. All of them, from Daily Wire to The Blaze to Fox Nation. Because the Left is going to try to suppress them, and they're not being subtle about it. https://t.co/FQaz3e01j1

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) July 19, 2021