Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), a staunch free speech advocate, has been announced as GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump’s running mate, potentially placing First Amendment issues at the forefront of the 2024 election.

“We need strong Republicans to stand up to the censorship industrial complex,” Vance wrote in a 2022 X post.  He also publicly critiqued a harsh censorship bill in Ireland and condemned Big Tech censorship online.

In May 2023, Vance himself was censored. “You can't make this up: Mailchimp suspended my press team’s account after we announced President Trump’s support for the Railway Safety Act,” Vance wrote. “But big tech censorship won't stop us from fighting for the people of East Palestine.” The latter refers to the toxic spill accident in an Ohio town, to which the government has been accused of giving a delayed and insufficient response. Mailchimp later told MRC’s CensorTrack that Vance’s account was reinstated.

Furthermore, Vance bashed a 2022 Biden White House claim that “social media and media platforms … proliferate [Covid-19] disinformation.” He posted on X, “These guys are just laying the groundwork for a more aggressive and punitive censorship regime.”

Vance also stood for free speech abroad, as he criticized the Ukrainian government last September for a campaign targeting purported Russian “propagandists.” Similarly, in a December letter to Irish United Nations Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason, Vance slammed the infamous Irish “hate speech” Criminal Justice Bill 2022. 

“I write to express concern about legislation pending in the Oireachtas [aka the Irish parliament] that could undermine Ireland’s commitment to universally prized freedoms, including the freedom of speech," Vance wrote. "Given that President [Éamon] de Valera himself was imprisoned for sedition in 1918, I urge your government to consider the impact of this legislation on Ireland’s proud tradition of free speech.”

Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on so-called “hate speech” and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using MRC Free Speech America’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.