Microsoft promised in February it would disavow the censorship tool NewsGuard, yet NewsGuard is still listed in Microsoft’s Search Coach tool for children.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-TX) struck a significant victory for free speech when his investigation led the software giant to disavow support for NewsGuard’s “biased indoctrination tool.”
Cruz said in a statement in early February:
Big Tech is finally beginning to recognize the censorship of conservative viewpoints will no longer be tolerated by the American people. I am happy to see that the leadership at Microsoft has renounced their support of NewGuard’s so-called Media Literacy tool in response to my letter. NewsGuard’s biased rating system stifles intellectual diversity, hinders critical thinking among young students, and undermines our nation’s core values of free expression.
Cruz had sent a letter last December requesting information about Microsoft’s financial support for NewsGuard’s “Media Literacy” program and work to censor conservative viewpoints.
