HuffPost falsely accuses Gaetz of urging gun violence on Silicon Valley

June 1, 2021

By Accuracy in Media Staff

HuffPost says Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) called for violence in a new article. Its original headline read, “Matt Gaetz Suggests Shooting People In Silicon Valley For ‘Cancel’ Culture.”

“Rep. Matt Gaetz,” it says, “the Florida Republican under federal investigation for alleged sex trafficking, suggested Thursday that followers should use their Second Amendment rights directly after railing against social media companies that silence conservatives.”

There was, in fact, no connection between Gaetz’s support for the Second Amendment and his criticism of Silicon Valley.

Such criticism was only connected to the First Amendment, not the second.

“Let us use the Constitution to strengthen our argument, and our movement,” he said. “We have a First Amendment right to speak and assemble, and we better use it.”

“The internet’s hall monitors out in Silicon Valley, they think they can suppress us, discourage us. Maybe if you’re just a little less patriotic, maybe if you just conform to their way of thinking a little more, then you will be allowed to participate in the digital world?”

“Well, you know what? Silicon Valley can’t cancel this movement, or this rally, or this congressman.”

His Second Amendment comments were separate.

But that didn’t stop HuffPost from placing them in the context of the recent shooting in San Jose, “in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley.” The article’s subhead says he “made the comments the day after a mass shooting in San Jose.”

The article further links him to violence and crime by at least partly blaming him for the Capitol riot. It calls him a “leading mouthpiece for Trump’s stolen election lies ahead of the Jan. 6 insurrection.”

HuffPost’s profound bias is unleashed in the article, accusing Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Gaetz of “[c]ycling through the usual far-right talking points.” These supposedly far-right points included speaking out against “Big Tech, [A]ntifa, the media and RINOs, or ‘Republicans in name only.’”

HuffPost isn’t the only left-wing outlet conflating Gaetz’s remarks. Vanity Fair says in a headline, “Matt Gaetz encourages supporters to shoot Silicon Valley execs over alleged suppression of conservative voices.”

A Business Insider headline reads, “Matt Gaetz suggested Americans have an ‘obligation’ to take up arms against Silicon Valley companies, claiming they’re trying to cancel conservatives.”

A Mother Jones subhead says he was “calling for an ‘armed rebellion.’”

Gaetz said, “The Second Amendment is about maintaining, within the citizenry, the ability to maintain an armed rebellion against the government, if that becomes necessary.”

“I hope it never does,” he made clear.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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