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CNN’s threat of action against the maker of a video showing President Donald Trump taking down man with a CNN logo on his head could be a violation of the law, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Wednesday.
Cruz, on Twitter, said the Atlanta-based network may have violated an extortion statue.
The video was created by a Reddit user and retweeted by Trump, putting it in the national spotlight.
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As reported by Western Journalism, CNN publicly threatened to expose the identity of the video’s creator and said it will only refrain from doing so if he does nothing else to offend the network.
CNN’s position has been attacked by many as a means of stifling the kind of free expression of ideas that helps protect CNN.
Cruz then went further, saying if the network tracked the creator through his IP address and later used that information as a basis for threats, it could be violation of a Georgia law.
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(1/2) Troubling. I assume CNN's lawyers are examining GA § 16-8-16 Theft by extortion. If CNN constructively obtained the gif-maker's IP… https://t.co/ChxqocuDgc
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) July 5, 2017
(2/2) it's a GA crime if they threatened to "Disseminate any information tending to subject any person to hatred, contempt, or ridicule…." https://t.co/ChxqocuDgc
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) July 5, 2017
“Troubling,” he tweeted in reference to the controversy. “I assume CNN’s lawyers are examining GA § 16-8-16 Theft by extortion. If CNN constructively obtained the gif-maker’s IP … it’s a GA crime if they threatened to ‘Disseminate any information tending to subject any person to hatred, contempt, or ridicule….'”
The statute cited by Cruz says it is illegal to “unlawfully obtain property of someone by threatening to disseminate any information tending to subject any person to hatred, contempt, or ridicule or to impair his credit or business repute.”
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Twitter, which has savaged CNN for its actions, responded to Cruz’s tweets.
CNN threatened to dox this individual with intent to subject him to public ridicule & harassment. They deserve criminal charges.
— spicysaurus (@spicysaurus5) July 5, 2017
Please Ted hold them to account for their crimes against us private citizens! We appreciate the support and leadership!
— CNNisISIS (@SlickRounder) July 5, 2017
What CNN did is against every citizen in the United States by blackmailing this young man. The did to all of us any political party .
— michelle (@Mirjana8Mirjana) July 5, 2017
CNN Wednesday defended itself by saying that any “assertion that the network blackmailed or coerced him is false.”
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