EXCLUSIVE: Ted Cruz Makes Push To Stop Big Tech From Canceling Conservatives

Months after exposing how online service providers had become a “secret tool” to censor conservatives, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) unveiled legislation that would combat politically motivated censorship carried out by tech companies through “discriminatory terms of service policies.”

Cruz, who in an April report laid out how companies like Eventbrite withheld their services from conservatives over politics, says these powerful tech giants would have to be transparent about how they’re “weaponizing” terms of service to block conservatives from using their products.

“As my Committee investigation revealed, Big Tech is increasingly weaponizing their broadly-worded terms of service agreements to silence and deny conservatives access to essential business technology,” Cruz said on Thursday. “The free flow of information through freedom of speech is the bedrock of our democratic republic, which is why online service providers should, at the very least, be required to be transparent about their political discrimination.”

His legislation, the Transparency in Enforcement, Restricting, and Monitoring of Services, or TERMS Act, would not only require public disclosure of terms of service, but also that companies give users advance written notice of termination or cancellation that explains how the user violated the acceptable use policy. 

The bill states that companies must disclose “the specific act or practice of the user that led to the decision to restrict the user.”

The legislative push comes after Cruz exposed how Eventbrite blocked organizations from using its service to plan events around What Is A Woman?, the hit documentary film starring Daily Wire host Matt Walsh. The event company, which controls nearly half of the online event management market, claimed mere screenings of the film violated their Hateful Events Policy, and yanked pages for events across the country from its platform. 

Cruz revealed to The Daily Wire in April that these decisions were made without even seeing the film. 

“Eventbrite said that its decision to cancel the ‘What is a Woman?’ event was based in a large part on their objection to the film itself,” Cruz said. “But then they couldn’t identify anything with the film that violated its terms of service.”

“They canceled the event without watching the movie,” Cruz explained, calling it “brazen abuse of power” that’s carried out in “an explicitly ideological leftist way to silence conservative voices while not silencing those voices on the left.”

Other conservatives targeted through terms of service that were identified by Cruz included Libs of TikTok, which was kicked off Slack without warning because its posts “incite hatred,” and Riley Gaines, who was also blocked from using Eventbrite for stating that women don’t have a Y chromosome. 

Walsh praised Cruz’s investigation in April, saying it confirmed everything he assumed about why Eventbrite targeted the film without explanation.

“Conservatives have long suspected they’re being deplatformed for fraudulent, politically motivated reasons,” Walsh said. “This congressional investigation confirms it.”

While Cruz seems to acknowledge that terms of service can be levied however private companies choose, he said the transparency still serves an important purpose. 

“The TERMS Act will force Big Tech to disclose its discriminatory policies upfront, allowing consumers to take their business elsewhere if they so choose,” Cruz explained.

He is joined on the legislation by Republican Senators Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Eric Schmitt (R-MO), who are also members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce.