Hillary Clinton says 'the quiet part out loud' during CNN interview, sending news appearance into viral frenzy
Hillary Clinton called for a government crack down on social media, sparking users on X to accuse her of saying 'the quiet part out loud.'
The former Secretary of State told CNN host Michael Smerconish Saturday that leaders could 'lose control' if they don't take serious action to censor digital content - sparking outcry on the web.
'Democrats see the internet as a propaganda tool rather than a medium for the open exchange of information!!' Tom Callahan wrote on X.
'They are afraid of exposure, indictment and imprisonment,' Wendy Stone added. 'I hope we make their fears come true.'
Clinton called for the federal government to imitate states like California and New York to place more controls on social media.
'We need national action and sadly our Congress has been dysfunctional when it comes to addressing these threats to our children,' Clinton said.
Clinton brought up the issue in the context of controlling more of what children were experiencing on social media and getting addicted to content on major platforms.
She called for the repeal of Section 230 of the Communications Act, the keeps online platforms from being held liable for content posted by users on their platforms.
That legal carve out, she argued, was an 'overly simple view' that did not take into account the dangers of social media.
'[I]f the platforms, whether it’s Facebook or Twitter/X or Instagram or TikTok, whatever they are, if they don’t moderate and monitor the content, we lose total control,' she said.
Clinton spoke with CNN host Michael Smerconish on Saturday, calling for the federal government to place more controls on social media
But Clinton's statement caused many to question her intentions.
'Who is “we”?' one pro-Trump account wrote on X, inquiring who exactly Clinton wanted to have control.
'They're all telling us what their goal is,' Keith Outen wrote on X. 'Only totalitarian governments use the phrase we must ban free speech or we lose control.'
Clinton claimed her proposed reforms would help protect children.
'It’s not just the social and psychological affects, it’s real harm. It's child porn and threats of violence, things that are terrible dangerous,' she said.
Clinton said that if the legal protections were removed, social platforms would spend more time and money monitoring their own content.
'We need to have guardrails, we need regulation,' she said.
The former failed presidential candidate spoke about her new book to warn about many of the dangers rising up in communities around the country.
She conceded that many of her proposed changes would require Democrats to be empowered in the federal government, so they could turn their focus to issues that she cared about.
'Hopefully the election will turn out the right way, the fever will be broken and we can go back to try and put our families and communities on the right track,' she said.
In September, Clinton called for more controls on online activity
Since she first lost her life-long dream of becoming the first female president of the United States to former President Donald Trump in the 2016 election, Clinton has blamed the rise of 'misinformation' and 'fake news' for convincing voters not to trust her.
In September, Clinton called for more controls on online activity, specifically against Americans who were paid by foreign countries to spread online propaganda.
'We are only at the beginning of understanding the whole iceberg here,' she said, warning of the Russians to deploy 'more sophisticated' operations to influence the United States.
Clinton proposed during an interview on MSNBC that the United States government to prosecute Americans for sharing information and propaganda on behalf of foreign governments.
'I also think that there are Americans engaged in this kind of propaganda and whether they should be civilly or in some cases criminally charged is something that would be a better deterrence,' she said.
