Rep Marsha Blackburn is urging Internet Service Providers to block access to any websites they deem 'fake news'. the vice chair of the Donald Trump Transition Team declared that private businesses engaged in providing their customers access to the World Wide Web should also take more aggressive action to decide what their customers will see. Blackburn raised fears that the Russians or other hostile global enemies may be the source of the unorthodox reports. Blackburn made her comments on the set of CNN's 'Situation Room' with Wolf Blitzer. Here is a snippet of that exchange, as reported by the Washington Times News Service. |
Internet providers should be obligated to prevent bogus news article from spreading online, the vice chair of President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team said Friday. Recent discussions involving the impact of fake-news websites on the recent White House race prompted Rep. Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee Republican, to call on internet service providers (ISPs) to take matters into their own hands. “If anyone is putting fake news out there, the ISPs have the obligation to in some way get that off the web,” Ms. Blackburn told CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer during an appearance Friday on the network’s “Situation Room” program. “And maybe it’s time for these information systems to look to have some type of news editor that is doing some vetting on that — whether it is the Russians, the Chinese, the Iranians or whomever. You do not want that out there because it is fake news. It is not something that is going to be correct and it’s going to end up being refuted. But it takes time, effort and energy to do that. And trying to sway and to misinform is completely inappropriate and in my opinion unethical,” she said. |