New York Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul has pledged to launch a massive surveillance program to attack those on social media and online who she claims are perpetrating “hate crimes” and will also “reach out” to supposed “violators” who dare to indulge their American right to free speech in the Empire State.
Hochul recently released the details of her plan to root out “hate” online for the “safety and well-being of all New Yorkers” and is using as her excuse the current wave of antisemitism — coming mostly among people from her own party — in the wake of the inhuman terror attacks by Palestinian terrorists on Southern Israel on Oct. 7.
“Let me be clear: we cannot allow hate and intimidation to become normalized. As Governor, I reaffirm that there is zero tolerance in New York for antisemitism, Islamophobia, or hate of any kind, and it’s critical we deploy every possible state resource to keep New Yorkers safe,” Hochul said in her announcement.
One plank in her plan to prevent “hate crimes” is focused on social media and it titled, “Expand Social Media Analysis to Identify Threats and Criminal Activity.”
“The New York State Police use publicly available social media activity and posts to assist in identifying credible criminal activity happening in the state,” her message reads. “But the pool of information is so large and rapidly changing that the State Police’s current efforts only scratch the surface of what is possible to detect and interdict.”
“Governor Hochul announced an addition $700,000 enhancing the Social Media Analysis Unit at the NYSIC by staffing a team of analysts to perform daily analysis of publicly available social media activity — particularly that which pertains to school violence threats, gang activity, and illegal firearms — to tie information back to existing criminal investigations, initiate new investigations, and communicate information on threats to appropriate field personnel,” her plan added.
In her Monday press conference on the plan, she also pledged to send her police to “reach out” to those who are saying things on social media that she has deemed to be “hate speech.”
“We’re very focused on the data we’re collecting from surveillance efforts, what’s being said on social media platforms,” Hochul said, according to The National Desk. “We have launched an effort to be able to counter some of the negativity and reach out to people when we see hate speech being spoken about on online platforms.
Kathy Hochul announced that New York is “collecting data” from “surveillance efforts” on social media
Hochul says the social media analysis unit will contact people who commit “hate speech”
This is to “ensure safety” Even though they got rid of Guiliani’s Stop and Frisk which… pic.twitter.com/QjlPiXfRpz
— Eric Abbenante (@EricAbbenante) November 13, 2023
The messianic Hochul is dedicating more than $75 million to this effort to “interdict” supposed “hate crimes.”
The one thing the left-wing governor did not do was to define exactly what she means by “hate.” And just who is to determine what “hate” is on social media? Recent history has shown that Democrats think normal, opposition to far-let polices is “hate.” So, does Hochul plan to send her jackbooted surveillance teams to the homes of conservatives, Christians, and Republicans because she has deemed their opposition to leftism to be “hate”?
Will she direct state prosecutors to begin putting conservatives, Christians, and Republicans in jail for daring to speak out on social media? And what does all this portend for privacy rights and freedom of speech? Is Hochul signaling that only state-approved speech will be allowed in her state?
Indeed, Hochul long ago proved that she feels conservative political speech is “hate” when she demanded that Facebook censer pro-lifers on its platform back in 2021.
This is not a new effort, either. Hochul did not create this mass surveillance unit just this year. It has been around for a while. In fact, she has already been slapped down by the courts at least once, already. And despite that, she persists.
In June of 2022, the autocratic Hochul announced rules that would force social media and online companies and platforms to report “hateful” content to her surveillance unit. At that time, she used the mass shooting at a Buffalo grocery store as her excuse to crack down on free speech, The Legislative Gazette reported at the time.
The laws (S.4511-A and A.7865) also created Hochul’s Task Force on Social Media and Violent Extremism in the Attorney General’s Office to identify and stop “violent extremism” and “domestic terrorism” online, the same unit she wants to expand today.
By February of this year, though, Hochul’s social media requirements were blocked by Judge Andrew L. Carter, Jr. on free speech grounds, Reclaim the Net stated.
“Speech that demeans on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, age, disability, or any other similar ground is hateful; but the proudest boast of our free speech jurisprudence is that we protect the freedom to express ‘the thought that we hate,'” Carter wrote in his decision.
Hochul is just one of the many Democrats and leftists who have launched an all-out assault on the free speech of Americans whose political ideals hail from the center-right. Our right to free speech has never been more at risk of being eliminated by rules, regulations, and censorship perpetrated by authoritarian government officials and left-minded Big Tech giants such as Facebook, Google, Apple, and the rest.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
