Former CNN Reporter: Social Media is Using Free Speech to Stifle Free Speech

The meme actually came to life.

One would have found it hard to believe if they didn’t see it with their own eyes.

Maria Ressa, a former reporter for CNN, claims social media (clearly referring to Elon Musk’s new Twitter) is using free speech “to stifle free speech.”

Ressa, who spent nearly two decades working as a lead investigative reporter in Southeast Asia for the network, came to that conclusion in an appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” Tuesday night.

“If you don’t have facts, you can’t have truth,” she told Colbert. “Without truth, you can’t have trust. Without these three we have no shared reality. We can’t solve any problems. We have no democracy.”

“That’s what social media has done,” Ressa continued. “It has come in and used free speech to stifle free speech, right?”

Former CNN reporter Maria Ressa told Colbert “there’s a reason why 60% of the world today is now under authoritarian rule” and that is “social media has…come in, and used free speech to stifle free speech, right?” Um, no. pic.twitter.com/GcT1u00d3i

— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) November 30, 2022

RELATED: Elon Musk Can Only Laugh After CNN ‘Fact-Checks’ His Meme Mocking the Network

Former CNN Reporter Claims Free Speech Stifles Free Speech

Not that it’s difficult to stump Stephen Colbert or his mindless audience, but the lengthy pause from the time CNN’s former reporter claims ‘free speech stifles free speech’ and when the host finally interjects is telling.

Not even they are willing to jump aboard this crazy train for a moment before they recover and offer a hearty cheer.

Ressa is nobody to sneeze at either. She is a Nobel prize-winning journalist, ironically having been honored for being a “fearless defender of freedom of expression.”

She wasn’t finished there. Ressa went back to her old stomping grounds of CNN and pushed for government censorship of social media platforms.

Ressa was also on CNN This Morning and said that the idea that the answer to free speech is more free speech “Doesn’t work today. Not in the age of exponential lies.” Again, Nobel Peace Prize winner pic.twitter.com/XGiofqazSR

— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) November 30, 2022

Ressa argued that the notion that the ‘answer is more free speech’ is outdated.

“That doesn’t work today,” she said. “Not in the age of exponential lies.”

“Information warfare uses free speech to stifle free speech,” Ressa reiterated. “You say a lie a million times, you pound someone into silence.”

It’s rather remarkable that she made such a claim on the network which brought you the Russia conspiracy hoax, the Jussie Smollett hoax, the Nick Sandmann hoax, and refused to report on the now-confirmed Hunter Biden laptop.

“We’ve got to get through this time but part of it is also the failure of democratic governments to put guardrails in place, legislation on social media,” added Ressa.

RELATED: Elon Musk Taunts Dem Ed Markey – ‘Your Account Sounds Like a Parody’

Beyond Parody

Think about that for a minute – a Nobel prize-winning journalist who has covered authoritarian governments and advocated for free speech is telling the American people that free speech is actually a bad thing and that government needs to step in to control it.

You couldn’t write a better parody. Well, except for the fact that somebody already did.

Earlier this week, Twitter chief Elon Musk mocked CNN with a satirical meme poking fun at the left-wing network’s tendency to hysterics.

Musk tweeted a screenshot of Don Lemon covering a story on him with a fake chyron that reads: “Elon Musk could threaten free speech on Twitter by allowing people to speak freely.”

pic.twitter.com/KZ7jeME3AX

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2022

And here we are, just hours later watching Maria Ressa tell Don Lemon that social media, and we quote, “uses free speech to stifle free speech.”

If that wasn’t funny enough, CNN got super-mad at Musk for sharing the meme and “fact-checked” him because it wasn’t real.

The official communication team account for CNN responded to the Tesla CEO by writing: “This headline never appeared on CNN. Be better.”

Even better, they were so upset by the parody that they added a doctored image suggesting Musk’s tweet violated Twitter’s rules on sharing “false, fabricated, and misleading information.”

This headline never appeared on CNN. Be better. pic.twitter.com/n8xGp2Z6qm

— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) November 28, 2022

Musk responded to CNN by simply adding, “Lmaoooo.”

The problem is, the meme is  now real. The comment was actually made on a CNN broadcast. Parody came to life.

You simply have to point and laugh at these people sometimes. Ressa should immediately turn in her Nobel prize that she received “for her brave commitments to free expression.”

Ressa clearly no longer grasps the concept of free speech. She is no more accomplished than any other two-bit hack contributor to the most embarrassing news network in the country today.