Liberal media, Big Tech increase calls to 'deprogram,' deplatform Trump supporters

close

Video

Bongino: Parler being taken down was just a conspiracy theory until 'I lived it'

Fox News contributor Dan Bongino reacts to calls for Big Tech to suppress conservative voices.

Liberal journalists and social media voices have stepped up their calls to "deprogram," deplatform or outright threaten right-leaning voices in the aftermath of the deadly Capitol riot earlier this month.

During an appearance Friday on "Real Time with Bill Maher," former CBS News anchor Katie Couric ripped the Republicans in Congress who voted against impeaching President Trump over a charge of inciting rioters on Jan. 6.

"The question is how are we going to really almost deprogram these people who have signed up for the cult of Trump," Couric said. 

CAPITOL RIOTS WILL BE USED TO 'DEPLATFORM' TRUMP SUPPORTERS: BEN DOMENECH

Her language mirrored that of liberal Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson in the aftermath of the riot, when a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol building in a deadly melee.

Robinson said last week on MSNBC "there are millions of Americans, almost all White, almost all Republicans, who somehow need to be deprogrammed," calling them members of a "Trumpist cult."

Forbes published an op-ed last week warning companies against hiring anyone who worked in communications for the Trump White House.

"Let it be known to the business world: Hire any of Trump’s fellow fabulists above, and Forbes will assume that everything your company or firm talks about is a lie," Randall Lane wrote.

Since the riot, Twitter and other social media outlets have banned Trump, and Google, Apple and Amazon deplatformed the right-leaning social media app Parler. On CNN's "Reliable Sources" on Sunday, former Facebook chief security officer Alex Stamos called on Big Tech and major carriers like Verizon and AT&T to effectively deplatform right-wing outlets in the name of purging misinformation.

"It is up to the Facebooks and YouTubes, in particular, to think about whether or not they want to be effectively cable networks for disinformation," he said, questioning whether cable providers should provide conservative outlets. 

"I’m not sure we need Verizon, AT&T, Comcast and such to be bringing them into tens of millions of homes. This is allowing people to seek out information if they really want to, but not pushing it into their faces I think is really where we’re going to have to go here."

Reacting on "Fox & Friends" Monday, Fox News contributor Dan Bongino took issue with "activists for the left," like CNN host Brian Stelter, deciding what platforms should be allowed.

"They want to silence everyone," Bongino said, questioning how far Big Tech and the left will go in targeting opposing viewpoints.

"What happens when you send out an email questioning, say, climate change and all of a sudden Gmail says, nah, we’re not deliver your email anymore. What, are you going to tell me that it is a conspiracy theory? I thought wiping Parler off the face of the Earth was a conspiracy too until I lived it."

Meantime, The Lincoln Project, a super PAC run by anti-Trump Republicans or former Republicans, has also stepped up its aggressive efforts to financially ruin anyone associated with the Trump brand.

Co-founder Steve Schmidt, the former GOP strategist turned Democrat and MSNBC talking head, attacked Expedia's vacation rental platform Vrbo on Twitter Saturday for not canceling reservations in the Washington, D.C., area this week, over fears of further far-right mob violence.

"You will feel immense pain if we fight," he tweeted, adding its finances were on the line.

The group has also tweeted out direct attacks at officials involved in the planning of the National Mall rally that preceded the deadly melee at the Capitol. At the event, Trump continued to press Vice President Mike Pence to reject electors from battleground states he lost to Joe Biden and to falsely claim he had won the election in a landslide.

Schmidt was widely mocked last month after bragging to far-left Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., in a late-night tweetstorm that he and the Lincoln Project leaders were "the types of guys who always tip at 50% or more" and urged her to work together with the group. His overture came after she and other liberals called the group a "scam" outfit due to its high overhead and funneling of donor money to firms connected to its founders.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The group, a media favorite during the 2020 campaign, is also coping with the fallout of co-founder John Weaver admitting to sending sexually inappropriate messages to young men.