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At least 45 federal officials colluded with Big Tech to censor users’ free speech under the guise of “misinformation” during the pandemic, including top Biden administration officials, according to reports.
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry filed a joint petition in Louisiana District Court to compel the DOJ to account for communications between executives at the White House, State Department, FBI, and other federal agencies and Big Tech.
🚨In May, Missouri and Louisiana filed a landmark lawsuit against top ranking Biden Admin. officials for colluding with social media companies to censor free speech. We have already received documents that show their cozy relationship, and now we’re demanding more.🚨
— Attorney General Eric Schmitt (@AGEricSchmitt) September 1, 2022
According to a statement issued by Schmitt and Landry, the DOJ has already turned over communications between multiple federal agencies and Big Tech but has so far refused to provide information about the role of top federal government officials in the censorship scheme.
Schmitt said that in May, Missouri and Louisiana filed a lawsuit seeking to “expose how top Biden Administration officials allegedly colluded with social media companies to censor freedom of speech” on various issues, beginning with the COVID-19 excuse.
A large-scale censorship plot
According to documents that Schmitt and Landry have already had access to, “the federal government has an incestuous relationship with social media companies and clearly coordinate to censor freedom of speech.” Meanwhile, “cowering behind executive privilege,” the DOJ seeks to cover up for the members of the Biden Administration involved.
Prosecutors allege a “censorship enterprise” that includes dozens of officials in a host of federal agencies. These include the Department of Homeland Security, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and the U.S. Surgeon General’s office.
However, prosecutors have reason to suspect that other federal agencies, such as the Census Bureau and the State and Treasury departments, also allegedly participated in a giant scheme to censor Americans.
In response to both states’ claims, Meta (the company behind Facebook and Instagram) has revealed that at least 32 federal officials, including top officials at the FDA, the Election Assistance Commission, and the White House, contacted its executives to give content moderation directions on their platforms.
The same was true of YouTube, which communicated with the Census Bureau and the White House.
According to the release, the “censorship enterprise” uncovered by the attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana “rises to the highest levels of the U.S. Government, including numerous White House officials,” and has been proven by documentation provided by the DOJ.
The document publicizes some communications between Big Tech executives and multiple federal agencies. In one such instance, a Facebook employee communicates via email with the surgeon general: “I know our teams met today to better understand the scope of what the White House expects from us on misinformation going forward.”
The same Facebook staffer communicated with the Department of Health and Human Services about a meeting between the two and explained how the platform would take further steps to censor free speech.
Mark Zuckerberg’s platform also maintained constant communication with the CDC awaiting information indicating means or ways to censor topics related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
White House officials even communicated with Facebook and coordinated the censorship of some accounts dedicated to making parodies of Dr. Anthony Fauci.
The same was true for Twitter, which communicated with the White House and CDC to coordinate action plans to censor “vaccine misinformation.”
Schmitt assures that Missouri and Louisiana will continue to wage legal battle with the Biden administration and federal agencies until every detail of the censorship plot comes to light.
Tomás Lugo, journalist and writer. Born in Venezuela and graduated in Social Communication. Has written for international media outlets. Currently living in Colombia // Tomás Lugo, periodista y articulista. Nacido en Venezuela y graduado en Comunicación Social. Ha escrito para medios internacionales. Actualmente reside en Colombia.