After being dropped by Simon & Schuster, Sen. Josh Hawley will publish his new book on Big Tech censorship with Regnery Publishing, a conservative publishing house based in Washington.
According to Regnery, The Tyranny of Big Tech will be released this spring and “shows how Facebook, Amazon, Google, Twitter, and other digital giants have abused their enormous market power and political influence, silencing their competition.”
In a statement issued to the Washington Examiner, Regnery said Hawley was unduly punished for his objection to the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s electoral victory on Jan. 6, due to rampant “cancel culture.”
“Despite Senator Hawley’s immediate and forceful condemnation of the violent incursion, social media teemed with calls for retribution for his objection to the certification of the electoral vote. The next day, … Simon & Schuster announced that it was dropping Hawley’s book,” the statement said. “Accusing Hawley of complicity in the storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, the New York–based publishing conglomerate made the Missouri Republican one of the highest-profile victims of the ‘cancel culture.'”
The statement cited Penguin/Random House’s acquisition of Simon & Schuster, saying that the consolidation of New York publishing houses “has not stiffened their editorial spine.”
“It’s discouraging to see [these publishers] cower before the ‘woke mob,’ as Senator Hawley correctly calls it,” it said. “Regnery is proud to stand in the breach with him. And the warning in his book about censorship obviously couldn’t be more urgent.”
In a statement released one day after the senator’s voiced objection, Simon & Schuster decried Hawley’s “role in what became a dangerous threat to our democracy and freedom.”
“After witnessing the disturbing, deadly insurrection that took place on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., Simon & Schuster has decided to cancel publication of Senator Josh Hawley’s forthcoming book, THE TYRANNY OF BIG TECH,” it said. ” As a publisher it will always be our mission to amplify a variety of voices and viewpoints: at the same time we take seriously our larger public responsibility as citizens, and cannot support Senator Hawley.”
Hawley has come under fire for his role in opposing the certification of Biden’s victory on Jan. 6. In the weeks since the Capitol siege, the Missouri Republican has seen the cancellation of his upcoming fundraiser by the hosting hotel chain, calls for his name to be placed on a no-fly list typically reserved for terrorists, and demands that he resign from the Senate.
