Biden officials pressured Facebook, Twitter to censor 'misinformation': state AGs
Facebook official told Biden administration how many posts, profiles had been taken down after meeting on White House 'expectations'
Multiple agencies in President Biden's administration coordinated with social media platforms to censor and suppress posts about COVID-19 they deemed misinformation, according to legal filings from state attorneys general.
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry have filed a request to compel the Department of Justice to turn over all relevant communications between the White House, Department of State and the FBI with social media companies. The attorneys general have already gotten access to some communications that they say show administration officials pressuring Facebook and Twitter.
One email from a Facebook official to Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said, "I know our teams met today to better understand the scope of what the White House expects from us on misinformation going forward."
A week later, the Facebook official told the Department of Health and Human Services about how many posts and profiles had been deleted.
HOUSE REPUBLICANS TELL FACEBOOK TO PRESERVE ANY FBI COMMUNICATIONS ON HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP STORY
President Biden speaks outside Independence Hall, Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci / AP Newsroom)
"[W]e removed 17 additional Pages, Groups and Instagram accounts tied to the disinfo dozen (so a total of 39 Profiles, Pages, Groups and IG accounts deleted thus far, resulting in every member of the disinfo dozen having had at least one such entity removed)," the Facebook official wrote, according to the emails released by Schmitt and Landry. "We also expanded the group of false claims that we remove to keep up with recent trends of misinformation that we are seeing."
Schmitt continued, "We have already received a number of documents that clearly prove that the federal government has an incestuous relationship with social media companies and clearly coordinate to censor freedom of speech, but we’re not done."
"The discovery provided so far demonstrates that this Censorship Enterprise is extremely broad, including officials in the White House, HHS, DHS, CISA, the CDC, NIAID, and the Office of the Surgeon General; and evidently other agencies as well, such as the Census Bureau, the FDA, the FBI, the State Department, the Treasury Department, and the U.S. Election Assistance Commission," Schmitt and Landry said. "And it rises to the highest levels of the U.S. Government, including numerous White House officials."
FACEBOOK PARENT SETTLES SUIT IN CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA SCANDAL
Mark Zuckerberg, via video, speaks at the 2022 SXSW Conference and Festivals at Austin Convention Center on March 15, 2022, in Austin, Texas. (Samantha Burkardt/Getty Images for SXSW / Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS
Social media giants are being scrutinized from multiple angles, with the GOP members of the House of Representatives making serious demands of Facebook for accountability.
House Republicans are demanding social media juggernaut Facebook preserves all communications with the FBI leading up to the 2020 presidential election.
GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE
GOP members of the House oversight and judiciary committees announced Thursday via an open letter that Facebook has failed to provide "complete responses" to concerns over their handling of the infamous Hunter Biden laptop.
The Republicans are now telling Facebook to keep all records of their contact with the FBI.