Senator Ted Cruz (4:27)

Well, that's exactly right. So I started last year as the ranking member on the Senate Committee of Commerce, Science and Transportation. And from that position as the ranking member, which means the senior Republican on that committee, I launched an investigation into the abuse of power for from Big Tech. And this past week we put out a major report. The report is entitled Weaponizing Terms of Service How Online Service Providers Use Broad Policies to Silence Conservatives. Now there are a lot of instances that, that we know about that get a lot of publicity. We know, for example, that Twitter, before Elon Musk purchased them, suspended the account of the Babylon Bee for making a joke about a Biden administration official. We know that both Facebook and Twitter suppressed stories about Hunter Biden's laptop before the 2020 election. We know that Facebook removed posts suggesting that COVID 19 originated in a Wuhan Wuhan lab, something we talked about at length on this podcast and a theory that has now been confirmed both by the federal Department of Energy and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. We know that YouTube took down a March 2021 video of a panel discussion with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis during which he disputed claims that children needed to wear face masks. We know that YouTube also, which is owned by Google, blocked access to a November 2023 episode of this podcast verdict because we were criticizing the corporate media's favorable coverage of Hamas and, and YouTube deemed, okay, you must be an adult to see what is on the network news. We also know in 2022, DirecTV dropped one America News Network at less than a year after Democrat leaders in Congress sent a letter to the CEO calling on them to stop carrying the network. We also know they did the same thing to Newsmax. Now I lit direct TV up and they ended up bringing Newsmax back. We also know that Intuit, at the direction of its banking partners, refused to provide payment processing and payroll services to gun manufacturers and, and sellers. And we know that JP Morgan Chase closed the account of the National Committee of Religious Freedom, which was created by former State Department Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom and former U.S. senator Sam Brownback. We know that GoFundMe block the release of $10 million of donations to the Canadian Truckers Freedom Convoy. We've seen that happen over and over and over again. Well, what this report does is it lays out an entirely new area of discrimination and it is using web based products and services, online service providers to ban conservative organizations from using their technology. And it's going after the infrastructure that is needed to communicate. And in fact this, this investigation reveals that online service providers are following a playbook for silencing conservatives. That leftist organizations, including the Southern Poverty Law center, which is wildly left wing and hates conservatives, and the Anti Defamation League, the adl, they together put together this strategy, this playbook to quote, remove infrastructure services that conservative organizations need to operate. And so I'm going to describe that playbook and what they're doing in particular.

Ben Ferguson (7:57)

When you look at their playbook and this, this amount of influence, I mean this can change and alter certainly an election cycle. It can certainly, I would argue, change a presidential election as well. And that's the reason why they're doing this. When you think about, you know, you've got millions of people that follow you Facebook, I've got over a million. But if you turn off and throttle either one of us, then the reach that we have compared to the left, it just disappears. It's the old saying, right? If a big tree falls in the forest and no one's around did it make a sound? And that's exactly what they did. But it wasn't just to one or two people. They were doing this to hundreds of top conservative voices that, that people look to for their opinions, specifically when it comes to election year issues.

Senator Ted Cruz (8:53)

So that's exactly right. And what this report focuses on is it uses a couple of key examples. It uses, number one, Slack's removal of libs of TikTok's workspace. It focuses on event rights, removal of event pages for events related to Matt Walsh's what Is a Woman documentary, as well as an event where Riley Gaines was scheduled to speak. And it focuses on Bontera's termination of its relationship with Independent Women's Forum, which deprived that organization of major nonprofit technology service provider services. And all of this follows. There was a report that was put out by the Anti Defamation League and it is called Bad Gateway. How Deep Platforming Affects Extremist Websites and and here's what the ADL recommended. It says, quote, de platforming websites removing infrastructure services they need to operate such as website hosting, can reduce the spread and reach of extremism and hate online. But when does deplatforming succeed? And here's what ADL explained. Quote this report shows that deplatforming can decrease the popularity of extremist websites, especially when done without warning. And they go through we learned four important lessons about how deep platforming affects extremist websites by which they mean anything right of center. Number one, it can cause popularity rankings to decrease immediately. Number two, it may take users a long time to return to the website. Sometimes the website never regains its previous popularity.

Ben Ferguson (10:31)

Bingo.

Senator Ted Cruz (10:32)

Number three, unexpected and unexpected is key. Unexpected de platforming makes it take longer for the website to regain its previous popularity levels. And number four, replicating deep platform services such as discussions, discussion forums, or live streaming video products on a standalone website presents significant challenges, including higher costs and smaller audiences. Now I want to go into a little bit more. This is what the ADL report. It has an entire section that says what is deplatforming? And by the way, the corporate media insists when we talk about deplatforming that we're making it up. Well, if you actually read the blueprint, they are very explicit. The left is explicit. They want to silence you. So let me read from this ADL report. Quote There are three main categories of infrastructure that keep websites running. Domain registrars, web hosting companies, and security protection companies. Number one, the website must be able to register and keep a domain name. A domain name such as google.com or adl.org is how visitors find a site. If a website is removed from domain name services, it becomes much more difficult, if not impossible, to find. Number two, web hosting companies and content distribution networks provide digital storage space for all the files, pictures, videos and software that make up the content of a website. When a website loses its hosting provider, the site's content disappears. Losing a cdn, a content distribution network, can cause slow service for high traffic sites. And number three, a third category of infrastructure provider includes companies that protect websites from external security risks, such as distributed denial of service DDoS attacks. DDoS attacks flood a website with fake traffic to overwhelm it, rendering it unable to answer normal user requests. If an infrastructure company, such as a network security firm Cloudflare, refuses to provide DDoS protection to a vulnerable website, it is vulnerable to being flooded with traffic, rendering it inaccessible.

Ben Ferguson (12:56)

So you look at what this, what we found out and what you just went through. The question is, how is it that these companies, and I'm specifically referring to big tech, are allowed to get away with this and do this to many people that they're in business with? I use myself as the example again because I've experienced this. When you went into business and I felt like I was in business with Facebook, they said, advertise with us, right? Advertise your show, advertise your content, boost your content, spend money with us and we're going to help you grow an audience and it'll be good for everyone. And then all of a sudden they just shut you down and they were able to walk away and just say, oh, well, you violated our terms of service or you did this, or you posted too many things that liberals posted as saying they were factually incorrect. The fact checkers came out, right? The liberals on the left, they were fact checking and putting dings against conservatives. So they lose their reach, lose their ability to boost posts, lose their ability to advertise. And it was all being done to clearly influence public opinion, and yet they've gotten away with it. So what's next?

Senator Ted Cruz (14:07)

Well, what this report focuses on, many of the deep platforming steps by Facebook or Twitter or YouTube. They're very public. What this report focuses on is the ones that are not public, which is the back office infrastructure. So let's take for example Slack, which is used for communication for many online organizations and companies. Slack canceled libs of TikTok's workspace for violating its terms of service. And the terms of service prohibit users from, quote, engaging in activity that incites or encourages violence or hatred towards against individuals or groups. Slack determined that libs of TikTok violated this policy based on three social media posts concerning quote, gender affirming hysterectomies and all age drag shows. Now here's the interesting thing. Slack shut down libs of TikTok workspace without any warning, without any explanation as to how it is violated Slack's policy. And Slack's action caused libs of TikTok to effectively lose its use of Slack's communications and forced it to rely entirely on cell phones to run its business. Now listen to this quote, which is fascinating. Slack told the commerce committee, told my investigation, quote, what makes Libs of TikTok's posts problematic is that Libs of TikTok has a specific audience and they are taking this information and posting it to that specific audience so that everyone in that audience sees it at the same time. In other words, they didn't even find objections with what libs of TikTok was posting. What they were mad at is conservatives were reading it. And that was enough reason to deplatform libs of TikTok.

Ben Ferguson (15:53)

So when you shut down a business in essence the way they did, is there any real and instant relief for libs of TikTok or others? Or is this one of those, they're too big to fail, right? These companies are too big, they're protected. And, and you're the minion and just deal with it. And if you're, and who cares if your life work is destroyed in 30 seconds because they shut it off.

Senator Ted Cruz (16:17)

So right now there, there is not immediate relief. You could presumably file a breach of contract case. The, the biggest relief and the reason I did this report is just sunshine. They're doing this in the dark. They're doing this without scrutiny. There is right now no federal law that this is prohibited. I'll give you another example. Eventbrite, which we focuses on. Eventbrite canceled pages for events hosted by College Republican clubs concerning Matt Walsh's what is a woman film. And it also canceled pages for an event featuring swimmer Riley Gaines for violating its terms of service. Now, critically, no one involved in the decision, this is what they told the committee watched the movie what is a. What is a woman? So they never saw it. Uh, and, and they couldn't identify anything objectionable in the trailer. So they just didn't like the topic so they decided to take it down. Uh, they relied instead on Matt Walsh's statements about quote, gender affirming surgeries, pronouns and his Johnny the Walrus children's book to reach the conclusion. Likewise, Eventbrite determined that Riley Gaines event violated its policy based on her social media post about biological men competing in women's sports. They shut down the event page without any warning, without any explanation as to how they violated this policy, without any way to fix it. And their actions ruined advertisements that included QR codes for the event pages. So, you know, a lot had been done to put out the codes to say, hey, come to this event. And they forced the event organizers to quickly pivot to a new method of providing tickets. And the committee asked Eventbrite whether Gaines's statement on October 10, 2023, she posted on Twitter, quote, real women lack a Y chromosome. And we asked whether that violates Eventbrite's policy. Eventbrite responded that, quote, the post speaks for itself. So they needn't answer that. How dare you say that someone with a Y chromosome is not a woman? We don't even need to dispute it. We have the power to shut it down.

Ben Ferguson (18:30)

So now, moving forward, you shine light on this and you talk about this is really being done in darkness and we need to shine light on it. Was there any nervousness from those that you're questioning? I want to use the word remorse, but I can't imagine they're remorseful. But is it going to at least make them pause before they do it again or not?

Senator Ted Cruz (18:56)

Let me ask you, Ben, have you seen this on cnn?

Ben Ferguson (18:58)

No.

Senator Ted Cruz (18:59)

Have you seen it on abc, NBC, cbs, msnbc?

Ben Ferguson (19:02)

Nowhere.

Senator Ted Cruz (19:02)

Have you read it in the Washington Post? You read it in the New York Times? No. No. The corporate media will not cover it. I'll give you another example. So Bonterra, which provides nonprofit management services, so it's back office, but it's incredibly important and there are very few providers of this. They denied those services to Independent Women's Forum, which is a conservative organization that is focused on advancing women's rights. And. And Bonterra concluded that it violated its policies which require customers to agree to refrain from advocacy, denying, quote, LGBTQ rights or denying a woman's right to reproductive choice, or denying racial justice or denying climate change. And. And their policies also prohibit customers from, quote, promoting, encouraging or facilitating hate speech, violence, discrimination based on race, color, sexual orientation, marital status, gender or identity expression. Bontera notified Independent Women's Forum of its decision not to renew their contract without any explanation of how the organization violated this policy. As a result, Independent Women's Forum had to quickly move off Bontera's platform and obtain a replacement services provider. Bona told the committee that Independent Women's Forum violated its terms of service because the organization, quote, works to restrict the rights of the LGBTQ community. Bona could not explain exactly how the group was working to restrict LGBTQ rights, but Generic generally pointed to independent women forums advocacy on issues like protecting women's sports and women's spaces. So if you actually think that girls should compete in girls sports, that is a view that is not acceptable and you will be denied online basic infrastructure from monopoly and near monopoly providers.

Ben Ferguson (20:55)

The amount of arrogance that we see now from these companies, you've witnessed it now firsthand, tells you they feel like they are protected by the current regime. Am I wrong?

Senator Ted Cruz (21:06)

You are exactly right. And if you look at Eventbrite, for example, let's go back to Riley Gaines. So Riley Gaines, they shut her down because they disagreed about not her event, but about some posts that she had put out. What they did not object to was an event that we identified entitled Gaza and the Struggle for Palestine. Now, that event was flagged by event rights algorithm and it was reviewed by its trust and safety team, but it determined that that event did not violate its hateful events policy. Uh, in an October 9, 2023 statement. So two days off after October 7, here's what the event sponsor, the Palestinian American organization Networks, said it called the October 7th attack, quote, self defense measures and said that, quote, Israel bears the full responsibility for those attacks and declared that, quote, the Palestinian people have the right to defend themselves and to fight the occupation with all means available. We salute the steadfastness of the Palestinian people and its resistance. So understand saluting the mass murder of 1200 people, the raping of women and girls, that does not violate their hateful speech policy. But saying that girls exist, that does. Saying that men should not compete against women in women's sports, that does. That is the utter hypocrisy and double standards that that allows. By the way, Eventbrite has also allowed numerous, quote, Stop Cop City events which support violent protesters who oppose the building of a police and firefighter training facility. Likewise, Eventbrite created a map of Black Lives Matter protests, many of which turned violent, to help users find them. So in other words, actual events that produce violence that end up killing people, that burn shops, that firebomb cars, those are not deemed hateful and violent. But if you say that women exists, you must be deplatformed.

Ben Ferguson (23:30)

Incredible. Want to tell you about Patriot Mobile. If you're like me and you're sick and tired of giving your money to woke liberal companies, that hate your values, then your cell phone provider may be at the top of the list and you don't even know it. You may not realize that Big Mobile gives massive donations to Democratic causes. Candidates that are running at the local, state, national level as well. You may not realize that when you pay your bill to Big Mobile, you're supporting Planned Parenthood. That's right. They give major donations decade after decade to Planned Parenthood. That's why I made the switch to Patriot Mobile. Because Patriot Mobile is the only nationwide conservative, dependable provider of what you need and that is access to all three major networks. That means the same towers you're using right now are the same towers you're going to keep using. The other thing is switching is now easy in 2024. Look, number one reason why people don't switch Internet providers or cell phone providers is they think it takes forever because it used to take forever. Well, not anymore. Switching is easy and you can do it over the phone. You can keep your same cell phone number you have now, keep your same cell phone you have right now or upgrade to a new one. But here's the payoff that you're going to love. Every time you pay your bill to Patriot Mobile, they take about 5% of your bill at no extra cost to you. And they give it back to organizations that support free speech, religious freedom, that protect the sanctity of life of unborn children. They also give money to second amendment organizations and they support our military, our wounded warriors, our veterans and our first responder heroes. So you're making a difference with every phone call you make. So get away from Woke Mobile and switch to patriot the number 972 Patriot. Use the promo code Verdict and you're going to get free activation. That's 972 Patriot or Patriot mobile.com verdict. Senator, one of the reasons why I just, I love doing this show with you is we get to talk about issues that the media is not covering. The last one's a great example, but there's also that needs to have everyone listening share on social media and that is this new report out that it wasn't just Hunter Biden that was getting in on the, on the action of selling access to daddy. Jim Biden was getting in on the action and actually may have been a bigger offender based on what we're finding out. Jim Biden is now being accused of being in business with Qatari officials, the actual government. And Hunter Biden. Yeah, he leverages ties to his dad. We, we've seen that. But Politico has a new report out that says that Joe Biden's brother was winning business deals with business partners that were directly linked and tied to foreign governments. Those that were actually tied to terrorism. According to the outlet, Jim Biden, the President's brother, was in business with Qatari officials to fund his healthcare venture. That would be, quote, some of the closest known links between a Biden relative and a foreign government.

Senator Ted Cruz (26:48)

Well, that's exactly right. This was a bombshell report that came out three days ago in Politico. The title of the report is, quote, fund manager indicates Jim Biden was in business with Qatari officials. And Politico explains, quote, new details about Jim Biden's foreign fundraising efforts are spilling out into a Kentucky bankruptcy court where recent testimony indicates that President Joe Biden's brother partnered with the Qatari government officials in his quest to find money for a US Healthcare venture. The sworn testimony by fund manager Michael Lewitt, a former business partner of Jim Biden's, attests that two companies that facilitated the efforts were part owned by members of the Qatari government. One company named in the testimony partnered directly with Jim Biden in the multi year fundraising efforts. The second company provided financial backing for a series of loans that a hospital chain paid Jim Biden to arrange. According to documents and testimony Lewitt submitted in the course of the federal bankruptcy proceedings. If substantiated, the alleged arrangements would constitute some of the closest known financial links between a relative of President Joe Biden and a foreign government.

Ben Ferguson (28:02)

It's also about following the money. Yes, we're hearing now that this money that was coming in was not just going to Jim Biden, but it was also going into the pocket of the now President of the United States of America. This testimony that came out in this bankruptcy, these documents and now this, this individual that did business with the Bidens, he said, look, at first there was a bridge loan to AmeriCorps that coincided with a payment from AmeriCorps directly to Jim Biden. Report says Biden said in testimony in February that the roughly six hundred thousand dollar payments that he received from AmeriCorps around the time where his role was in arranging, quote, loans and many other services, quote, unquote. And then In March of 2018, Jim Biden transferred $200,000 of the payments in question to then his brother Joe Biden.

Senator Ted Cruz (29:08)

Well, look, that is exactly right. And you need to understand Qatar has some of the most problematic foreign policy of any country on earth. And so this is, you know, it's amazing. The Biden Crime family. And that phrase, I gotta say, a while ago it sounded like hyperbole. It no longer sounds like hyperbole because the entire Biden family is engaged in a business where they only do business with our enemies. They somehow never seem to do business with Canada. They never do business with the United Kingdom. They never do business with France or Spain or Japan. They only do business with Russia. They do business with Ukraine. They do business with Communist China. Let me read from this political article because it lays out, quote, In June of 2017, Qatar's neighbors, led by Saudi Arabia, ganged up and cut diplomatic ties with a country citing its alleged support for terrorism. The ensuing financial and physical blockade through the country, a peninsula that juts out from Saudi Arabia into the Persian Gulf, into a sustained crisis. In response, the country's rulers began showering well connected Westerners with gifts and financial benefits, sometimes in the form of investment funding. The Qatari influence offensive strengthened the country's ties to the US And Europe, but also led to corruption scandals, including the European Parliament's sprawling Cuttergate fiasco. Around the time of the blockade, Jim Biden was embarking into a foray into the healthcare business in which he worked closely with a troubled hospital chain, AmeriCorps. And by the way, when Jim Biden was, was raising money, he pitched himself very directly as. So for example, here's what Jim Biden said in a draft letter to official at Qatar Sovereign Wealth Fund. He said, quote, my family could provide a wealth of introductions and business opportunities at the highest level that I believe would be worthy of the interest of His Excellency. On behalf of the Biden family, I welcome your interest here. That's how he was pitching it. And, and it, it resulted in payments of roughly $600,000 from AmeriCorps that he received. And Jim Biden transferred $200,000 of those payments directly to Joe Biden. Now understand who Cutter is. Also, do you know where the leaders of Hamas live?

Ben Ferguson (31:43)

Where is that?

Senator Ted Cruz (31:44)

Qatar.

Ben Ferguson (31:44)

There you go.

Senator Ted Cruz (31:46)

They live as billionaires. They live in incredibly lush, opulent apartments. They fly private jets. Qatar gives them sanctuary. Qatar supports them. Qatar protects them. This is the same Hamas that carried out October 7th. This is the same Hamas that murders Israelis and murders, murders Americans. And yet the Biden administration consistently refuses to sanction Cutter, refuses to stand up to Qatar and suddenly we discover that, that the Biden family has been bought and paid for. By the way, can you go back.

Ben Ferguson (32:21)

And read that one line? Because I do think it's an important one.

Senator Ted Cruz (32:24)

Hold on, let me read A different line.

Ben Ferguson (32:26)

Yeah.

Senator Ted Cruz (32:27)

Which is Jim Biden presented a presentation on behalf of AmeriCorps saying that AmeriCorps was seeking $30 million in financing to acquire hospitals. Do you know how the presentation described Jim Biden?

Ben Ferguson (32:42)

I'm going to guess Joe Biden's brother.

Senator Ted Cruz (32:45)

It described him as totally separate person with no connection to the Vice President or the President. No, no, that actually is not correct. I'm going to read you what it said. And this is a quote, jim Biden, quote, brother and campaign finance chair of former Vice President Joe Biden. So it ain't complicated. Why do you want to give him money? Because he's Joe, Joe's brother. And by the way, the money you give him, he'll give to Joe. Why is this not on the six o'clock news, Ben?

Ben Ferguson (33:19)

Because it indicts the President of the United States of America in a pay to play scheme that would bring down, I would argue, any other presidency.

Senator Ted Cruz (33:28)

Look, in any normal sense, that would be right. But if you look at these documents, these documents are being ignored by the media. So for example, Lou wrote to Jim Biden to express confidence that his funds would be repaid immediately for its loans to AmeriCorps with money from Dubai, according to an email that emerged in the bankruptcy litigation. Quote, nothing else changes in terms of what I will be doing re AmeriCorps since I will be just as responsible for the Dubai $$3 signs with the added worry being driven around the desert. LOL.

Ben Ferguson (34:17)

Wow. I mean, I'm sitting here and I say wow. And I mean it. Rarely am I speechless, but I go back to that, that sentence I wanted you to read again, where the pitch is to his Excellency. I mean, they're saying, hey, do business with us. You guys need access. You're in trouble. This is how you get the Biden family on your team again. It's just going to cost you millions of dollars in, quote, business.

Senator Ted Cruz (34:44)

Yeah. Let's speak clear. The entire pitch, it was not about Jim Biden's financial acumen. It's not about what he knew about healthcare. As far as we can tell, he didn't know a thing about healthcare. Here's what he read, what he wrote. I'm going to read it again. The draft letter from Jim Biden, read in part, quote, my family. It's not even me my family. And who's my family mean? He means his brother. It's just like Hunter Biden when he says my father. They're all talking about Papa Joe. My family could provide A wealth of introduction and business opportunities at the highest level that I believe would be worthy of the interest of His Excellency. And his and Excellency are both capitalized. On behalf of the Biden family, I welcome your interest here.

Ben Ferguson (35:34)

Yeah. Meaning I'm speaking on behalf of my brother.

Senator Ted Cruz (35:37)

Just like Hunter Biden said. I'm sitting here next to my father, to the Chinese Communist. If you do not give me $5 million right now, my father will retaliate. It wasn't just Hunter. It was Jim. It was the entire family. And I want to underscore, why didn't they do business with the French or the British or any friends, the Japanese, the Canadians? No, it was only enemies of America. It was only countries that provide comfort and shelter to Hamas and terrorists who murder Americans. That was their business strategy, is find people who hate America. Find countries who are enemies of America but who need favors from Joe Biden and go get hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars from them.

Ben Ferguson (36:22)

Yeah. And this comes, by the way, two weeks after James Biden. It came out in court documents as well. Apparently secretly negotiated $140 million settlement deal in 2012 between a U.S. company and the Saudi Arabian government, quote, due to his relationship with then Vice President Joe Biden. Court documents revealed. And no one talked about that story either on the nightly news. As you mentioned a moment ago, look.

Senator Ted Cruz (36:46)

It reminds me of Mel Brooks's movie, History of the World, Part 1, where he says repeatedly, it's good to be the king.

Ben Ferguson (36:52)

It's good to be the king.

Senator Ted Cruz (36:54)

That's how the Biden family sadly approaches government.

Ben Ferguson (36:58)

Yeah, we're gonna keep watching this. I ask all of you listening, make sure you share it on social media, because this is what we're up against. Share this podcast wherever you are on social media and tell people to listen to this. Don't forget, we do the show Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Make sure you hit that subscribe auto download button and or follow button wherever you're listening right now. And on those in between days, grab my podcast, the Ben Ferguson Podcast. I'll keep you up to date on the latest breaking news as well. And the Senator and I will see you back here on Friday morning.