PHX Reporter

In front of thousands gathered at the International Agri-Center in Tulare County, Calif., last weekend, Congressman Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) joined other Republican speakers in delivering their version of the state of the union.

As part of U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes' (R-CA) Freedom Festival, Biggs spoke about censorship and Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act. Biggs said that big tech companies labeling and censoring certain posts and types of activity is comparable to a media publisher and editor. 

"So they are publishing," Biggs said. "A publisher hires an editor to reflect what they're doing, and they are no longer entitled to 230 protections."

The representative called on the Department of Justice to start holding big tech accountable, or allow private citizens to do it themselves. Biggs said he was suspended from a social media platform recently for stating that President Joe Biden "may be the worst president in the history of the United States of America."

"First of all, truth is a defense, and I was telling the truth," Biggs said. "[...] We have to break up these horrific monopolies that control what you see because they want to control what you think."

The Republican lawmaker encouraged attendees to begin supporting free alternative social media platforms, urging the festival-goers to remember that if if they continue to use Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, they are part of the problem. 

"We need to reinvigorate Parler, Rumble, MeWe," Biggs said. "Let's do that, let's build those up into free spaces for social media."

Biggs has been outspoken about taking power back from big tech before. He called on legislative candidates to refuse monetary donations from big tech, according to CNBC. 

The Freedom Festival attracted over 2,000 Republicans, 1,700 more than the amount of people that California currently deems safe to gather. Nunes and the other participants laughed at the 300-person gathering restriction, and loopholed it by inviting the Tulare County Sheriff to say a prayer before the festival to qualify it as a religious gathering. 

Other speakers at the festival included 'The Case for Trump' author Victor Davis Hanson, Donald Trump Jr. and Bay-area attorney Harmeet Dhillon.