CNN's Don Lemon calls on Big Tech to regulate people's posts, opinions: 'Have them face consequences'

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In media news today, ESPN's Sage Steele gets pulled off air after knocking the company's vaccine mandate, a new study suggests that Critical Race Theory is infiltrating America's 25 most elite private K-12 schools, and Hillary Clinton announces a new fiction book

CNN host Don Lemon repeatedly called on social media companies to start regulating the opinions and posts of its users Tuesday, declaring that there should be "consequences" for those who post untrue information on any platform and the true identities of users should be known.

During the handoff between their respective shows, Lemon told CNN host Chris Cuomo that, regardless of whether or not someone was expressing an opinion on social media, anything anyone posts should be "based in fact." 

"I’ll end with this … and this is a start for the social media companies. What is put on your platform, at the very least, should be true. Let’s start there," Lemon said, to which Cuomo asked about users' opinions. 

"It should be true … You can have opinions based in fact. OK? So at the very least it should be true. And it should be based in some sort of fact," Lemon said. "Beyond that — let’s start at that base level, that baseline right there. And then we can go on with the rest of it."

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Lemon agreed with Cuomo that social media companies should know the identities of who uses their products, but added that people should also know the identities of who responds to them or says things about them on the platforms.

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"So if someone says something about me I should know that it’s Joe Smith who lives in Wisconsin and it shouldn’t just be a bot," Lemon said.

Earlier in the day, Lemon appeared on CNN's "New Day" and went a step further, calling for there to be consequences for people who posted untrue information.

"If we say something on this network that is not true, there are repercussions and ramifications, right? We face the consequences," Lemon said to anchors John Berman and Brianna Keilar. "If you do that on social media, there are no consequences. It's a wild, wild west." 

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"I can go on and say … John when was the last time you beat your wife, or any of those things on social media and there are no consequences for it even though it is not true," he added. "We should not allow those things in our society. At the very least … what is posted on social media should be true." 

Lemon claimed that posts not based in truth should be taken down, and that there should be repercussions for such posts.

"If it's not true don’t allow people to put it up there. Have them face consequences," Lemon said. "If you’re going to be on social media, you should put your real information on there, so that if you say something that is not true … then you should be able to face the consequences for it. It shouldn’t just be bots out there spreading BS."

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"I do think that social media, just like any other media company … should face some sort of consequences. And they should be regulated," he added. "And at the very least, what you put on there should be true, and if it's not true, then it should be actionable."