Ten Major Revelations Exposing Extent Of Government Pressure On Big Tech To Censor Americans

Two hundred and thirty-one years ago this month, America's founders enshrined free speech as the first defense in the Bill of Rights, declaring that the government cannot violate free speech. By the end of 2022, a series of high-profile revelations show how compromised these security measures are in the era of big technology.

From Elon Musk's Twitter files to the candid testimony of an FBI agent, Americans have been able to see a once-hidden campaign in which federal agencies pressure social media platforms directly and through proxies to censor content on their terms. services. The goal seems to have been to preserve the ruling elite's preferred narratives about everything from the epidemic to election integrity.

The revelations debunk claims that the FBI only targets foreign disinformation, making it clear that everyday American opinion is also in question. They are also sounding the alarm across the political spectrum about the future of free speech in the world's most popular constitutional republic.

“We have entered this period of American history when the range of acceptable thoughts and expressions has become so narrow that if you deviate in any way, you are labeled, censored and silenced,” the retired Democrat said. This was announced earlier this month by Senator Robert Torricelli. "It's extremely dangerous."

“And the strangest thing is that the very institutions that have been the defenders of American freedom of thought and speech — American universities, think tanks, the media — are the worst offenders,” he added.

The FBI defended itself by saying that it did not order social media companies to censor content, but merely provided messages that the bureau believed violated the platform's services. Those who question the bureau's censorship activities are called conspiracy theorists.

“The men and women of the FBI work every day to protect the American public. “Unfortunately, conspiracy theorists and others are spreading disinformation to the American public to discredit the agency,” he said.

George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said he was worried about the backlash from bureau opponents calling for a new church commission, similar to the one Congress created in the 1970s to investigate the bureau's crimes half a century ago.

“After Watergate, both parties supported the reform of the FBI and intelligence agencies. Today, this cacophony of voices has been replaced by crickets as many media outlets have imposed yet another effective closure on Twitter,” Turley wrote in a comment. writes The Hill newspaper. This silence in the media suggests that the FBI has found a "golden mean" in censorship, protecting the views of the political and media establishment.

Revelations about how the government influences debate and censors targeted opinions is growing rapidly. The News has just compiled the 10 most important discoveries.

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In the fall of 2020, the FBI set up a command center in San Francisco that redirected censorship requests from the bureau's headquarters to social media platforms.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Elvis Chan testified in a acquittal filed by Louisiana and Missouri that the FBI had set up a complex system involving field agents, prosecutors, and bureau headquarters to track and flag content. Content censorship requests approved by headquarters were then sent to the command center he ran in San Francisco and routed to Big Tech.

“By the time it reached us, it had what I would call the FBI Headquarters seal of approval,” he said.

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The FBI has frequently dealt with requests to censor social media, including content posted by Americans.

Chan found that social media companies often refused when he applied for content, and in some cases removed posts. “I would not say that this is a 100% success. If I had to describe it, I would say it was a 50 percent success rate. But this is only from my memory, ”he said.

You can read Chan's statement in full here.

Musk's tweets show that some of the targeted content was posted by Americans, including an Indiana Republican who was targeted for voicing concerns about election integrity.

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Federal agencies have also worked with contractors to ensure certain content is monitored and censored, creating some separation.

After Elon Musk posted his email and thousands of other messages to various media outlets on Twitter, Matt Taibbi revealed earlier this month that in addition to the FBI's request to delete certain messages, DHS is also working with security contractors depending on the chosen content. looks like disinformation.

DHS also partners with several think tanks, including a consortium called the Election Integrity Partnership, and meets with shocking regularity with CEOs of major technology companies to discuss what constitutes "disinformation."

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Department of Homeland Security officials participate in weekly meetings with Twitter executives as the 2020 election approaches.

DHS was part of a group of government agencies that had frequent contact with Twitter leadership in the weeks leading up to the 2020 election. These meetings became commonplace and included the FBI and other federal agencies.

An internal tweet showed a "weekly sync with the FBI/DHS/DNI" (Department of National Intelligence) to discuss election security.

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The Department of Homeland Security knew that Twitter would change its mind about censoring Hunter Biden's laptop story.

Following revelations in an October 2020 New York Post article about then-candidate Joe Biden's son Hunter and his laptop that revealed the extent of his Ukrainian business and other possible criminal activities, Twitter stepped in and blocked access to the story. They later restored it and then worked on a re-release of it.

Taibbi's analysis of the third release of Twitter's internal files revealed that Joel Roth, head of Twitter's trust and safety division, had messages detailing his regular meetings with senior US intelligence officials.

Expanding on Hunter Biden's article and not disputing how it affected Twitter's public image, a screenshot of one of the posts by a young man believed to be Roth emerges.

“We blocked the history of New York, then we unblocked it (but said differently), then we said we were blocking it ... and now we are in a confusing situation where our policy is messed up, communication goes awry, the reporters say. that "they are idiots, and we are re-establishing extremely complex politics 18 days after the election," he said, "FML for short."

The screenshot also revealed that the message was actually sent as part of a weekly election security meeting between Roth and the FBI, DHS and DNI office.

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Whistleblower memos show DHS is downplaying plans to create a "Governing Council" to combat "disinformation."

Late last month, Sept. Josh Hawley released several revealing documents from DHS that show the agency has "internal plans to set up a disinformation management council, including a possible partnership with Twitter and a public news management program." ". ".

“The new documents also show that the Disinformation Management Council’s plans in partnership with Big Tech were much more extensive than the DHS or the White House acknowledged,” Hawley said on his official website. “Internal emails describe how DHS officials plan to meet with META head of security policy Nathaniel Gleicher in February 2022, the same official who oversaw the security of the New York Post Facebook posts about Hunter Biden ahead of the 2020 election crackdown. . The Disinformation Management Council also planned to create an "analytical exchange" with "industry partners" in big tech.

The documents also show how the Disinformation Control Council coordinated the work of the Omidyar Network, "a left-wing dark money organization that gave millions of dollars to liberal campaign groups."

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FBI pays Twitter $3.4 million to control disinformation

“The government paid Twitter millions of dollars to censor public information,” Musk tweeted last week. The post included a tweet from reporter Michael Shellenberger detailing how much money was stolen.

Shellenberger released an image of a February 2021 email to Twitter Deputy General Counsel Jim Baker, who previously served as FBI General Counsel.

The sender's name was blocked, but the message was clear. “I am happy to announce that we have raised $3,415,323 since October 2019.” an unknown sender informed Baker. The money apparently came as "compensation for time spent processing FBI requests."

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Federal agencies have launched a coordinated campaign to discredit Hunter Biden's foreign affairs record.

Shellenberger released memos showing how the FBI and the US intelligence community "discredited factual information about Hunter Biden's overseas business deals."

"In Tweet Files #7, we present evidence suggesting organized efforts by members of the Intelligence Community (IC) to target senior news and social media executives to cover up Hunter Biden's leaks before and after his release to discredit him." Shellenberger wrote.

“First, it is important to understand that Hunter Biden made “tens of millions” of dollars in contracts with foreign companies, including those associated with the Chinese government, for which Hunter did not offer real work. he continued.

“And yet, throughout 2020, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies repeatedly pressured Joel Roth to deny reports of Hunter Biden’s laptop as a Russian hack and leak operation,” Schellenberger tweeted, referring to Roth’s sworn statement in December. : 2020

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Federal agencies have also influenced the American debate about the COVID-19 pandemic, sometimes censoring accurate messages that contradict the government's version.

According to a document released on Monday, Twitter changed the conversation about COVID by censoring information that was true but contrary to US government policy, discrediting public health experts who disagreed with it, and cracking down on contentious users. moderate the platform's epidemic content to your liking," journalist David Zweig told The Twitter Files episode 10.

When President Joe Biden took office, the White House began focusing on "anti-vaccine bills" in Twitter meetings, Zweig said. The Biden administration specifically targeted journalist Alex Berenson, who was critical of vaccines and was subsequently suspended from Twitter. Musk recently reactivated his account.

“Inevitably, deviant but legitimate content has been flagged as misinformation, and the accounts of doctors and others have been banned for both posting opinions and seemingly factual information,” Zweig said.

The 2020 pandemic censorship even targeted President Donald Trump and his call for Americans not to fear the virus.

On Monday, Zweig released an exchange of information between Twitter employee Jim Baker, a former FBI general counsel, and Joel Roth, then director of trust and security.

"I feel so good." Trump tweeted as he left Walter Reed Medical Center. “Don't be afraid of Covid. Don't let it take over your life." Trump cited "really wonderful medicine and science" developed by his administration. "I feel better than 20 years ago."

Baker emailed Roth to ask why the tweet didn't violate Twitter's COVID policy by displaying the "Don't be afraid" call to action. Roth responded that Trump was simply making a "generally optimistic statement" that "doesn't push people into anything harmful" and doesn't go against principles like the mask.

Finally the post is saved.

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What is expected next? Congress is investigating how far federal censorship has gone, including on platforms outside of Twitter.

Representative Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the new chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, told Just The News that he plans to conduct a broad investigation into the FBI and the Department of Justice (DOJ), including their potential collaboration with other agencies. Be drawn in. censorship. He said part of Big Tech's interference was improperly interfering in US elections.

“This was an information and disinformation operation by big government and big technology against us, the people,” he added. “And they did it right before the most important election we've ever had, which shouldn't have happened in this great country. But it happened. Again, that's why we need to expose this so it never happens again."

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