The Biden Administration has been accused of attempting to censor content on the popular social media platform Facebook, as evidenced by a series of documents released by Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH) referred to as “The Facebook Files, Part 1.”
These documents, obtained via Judiciary Committee subpoena, show that the White House has exerted pressure on Facebook and Instagram to alter their content moderation policies in order to censor posts.
In April 2021, an internal email from an employee at Facebook addressed to CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg stated that the company was continually pressed by “external stakeholders” including the Biden White House “to remove certain posts.”
According to Jordan’s tweets, one such post was a meme that had received 385k shares and 19k reactions since its posting. The White House requested its removal due to concerns it could inhibit confidence in Covid vaccines amongst those they aim to reach.
Facebook VP of Public Policy Brian Rice expressed in an April email that the company’s relationship with the Biden regime was reaching a “crossroads” due to these demands for censorship.
In response, officials within Facebook considered reassessing their ties with the White House in an effort to avoid potential consequences for not complying with their requests.
Furthermore, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry reported communications between Joe Flaherty – Director of Digital Strategy for President Biden – pressuring Facebook regarding FOX News host Tucker Carlson questioning dangerous experimental vaccines; Flaherty demanded knowledge of what reducing this information would look like on Facebook.
As a result, Facebook prepared talking points for Clegg, indicating they had demoted the said video by 50% to appease the White House’s demands, despite the post not violating any policies.
According to the email:
Thanks Nick-here are some talking points that you can use if Andy raises Rob’s questions:
How was this [Tucker Carlson] post not violative?
• while we remove content that explicitly directs people not to get the vaccine, as well as content that contains explicit misrepresentations about vaccines, we reviewed this content in detail and it does not violate those policies.
Moreover: you say reduced and demoted. What does that mean? There’s 40,000 shares on the video. Who is seeing it now? How many? How effective is that?
• The video is receiving 50% demotion for seven days as it is in the queue to be fact checked
These files indicate that President Biden is not only willing but actively seeking out ways he can manipulate social media platforms into censoring content he does not agree with or deem appropriate.
This raises serious questions about free expression norms in our country today and how much power should be granted when it comes to controlling what people view online.
What did the Biden White House want removed?
A meme.
That’s right, even memes weren’t spared from the Biden White House’s censorship efforts. pic.twitter.com/6BhDxTHsUi
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) July 27, 2023
But Facebook wanted to repair its relationship with the White House to avoid adverse action:
“Given what is at stake here, it would also be a good idea if we could regroup and take stock of where we are in our relations with the [White House], and our internal methods too.” pic.twitter.com/nLbYkf2quy
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) July 27, 2023
Clear effort at government-directed social media censorship @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/iDhcSBFFjo
— AG Jeff Landry (@AGJeffLandry) January 6, 2023
More to come…
