Rep. Hageman to Newsmax: AT&T's Deplatforming Violates Free Speech

Free speech protections under the First Amendment of the Constitution give Americans not only the right to speak as they wish, but also to hear other opinions, and that fundamental right comes into play with the AT&T DirecTV deplatforming of Newsmax, Rep. Harriet Hageman told Newsmax.

"They [Democrats] cannot debate the substance of the issues that are important to the citizens of this country, so they simply either do not engage with us or they find a way to suppress our ability to speak," the Wyoming Republican said Thursday on Newsmax's "Spicer & Co."  "The reason why this is so important is because you not only have a First Amendment right to speak, but you also have the First Amendment right to hear.

"I have a First Amendment right to learn what people on Newsmax, what the reporters on Newsmax, are saying."

But when there is evidence from Twitter demonstrating that the federal government was "conspiring with these social media companies and others to violate the First Amendment via surrogacy, that is a serious problem that needs to be addressed," said Hageman. "We need to get to the bottom of why they decided to deplatform Newsmax."

AT&T's DirecTV cut Newsmax's signal Jan. 24, blocking the network from more than 13 million subscribers of the satellite service, DirecTV Stream, and U-Verse.

Newsmax is America's fourth highest-rated news network in the cable landscape and a top-20 overall channel that reaches 25 million Americans weekly, according to the Nielsen ratings.

DirecTV said it dropped the popular network due to "cost-cutting" measures, but it also carries 22 left-leaning news channels, many of which draw considerably lower ratings than Newsmax, and all of which get paid license fees.

DirecTV has claimed Newsmax was demanding "excessive fees" that would amount to "tens of millions" of dollars. Newsmax has denied that, saying it is seeking an approximate fee of $1 per cable subscriber per year, which is among the lowest requested fees in cable.

"This was never about the fees being excessive," Christopher Ruddy, CEO of Newsmax, said. "DirecTV's position has always been that Newsmax, of all cable news channels, should never get any cable fee whatsoever, not one penny."