The Sconi

Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson expressed his concerns regarding social media censorship as Parag Agrawal is set to become the new Twitter CEO.

On Nov. 29, Twitter CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey announced his resignation as head of the social media platform and will be replaced by 37-year-old Parag Agrawal, according to CNBC.  Agrawal, who holds a doctorate degree from Stanford University, has previous experience working as a researcher for Microsoft and Yahoo in addition to his work with Twitter that began 10 years ago as a software engineer.

“There is a reason freedom of speech is contained in the First Amendment. Big Tech’s censorship threatens our liberty and having a CEO @Twitter that promotes censorship should concern every American," Johnson said in a tweet.

Republicans like Johnson have been concerned regarding Agrawal's new role as CEO, citing Agrawal's belief that Twitter should be “bound” by the First Amendment and that they should “focus less on thinking about free speech," according to the Daily Caller. Other comments from Agrawal, including a tweet stating “If they are not gonna make a distinction between Muslims and extremists, then why should I distinguish between white people and racists?” have also sparked concerns among Republican legislators who are worried that Twitter will continue to silence conservative voices while allowing people, including members of the Taliban, to call for violence on the platform.

According to Fox News, Twitter currently has a history of censoring conservative voices and news, with a recent instance such as the suppression of reporting on Hunter Biden’s laptop scandal from conservative publications and politicians. Twitter was also responsible for suspending former President Donald Trump’s account permanently in January following a series of guideline breaches and the January Capitol riots, according to BBC News. 

As Agrawal takes control over Twitter, Republicans like Johnson will continue to worry if stricter content moderation policies and more aggressive censorship of conservative content are on the horizon.