Two landmark lawsuits brought against the Biden administration alleging that it leaned on and strong-armed social media companies to censor free speech were consolidated in the United States District Court for the Western District Court of Louisiana on July 26.
Democratic presidential hopeful Robert Kennedy Jr. is the plaintiff in one of the actions, Kennedy v. Biden. The states of Louisiana and Missouri are the plaintiffs in the other suit, Missouri v. Biden.
Both suits allege that the White House and federal agencies worked together and bullied the powerhouse social media companies, Facebook, Google, Twitter, and YouTube, to suppress and block information of which the government disapproved.
“This evidence suggests we are uncovering the most serious, coordinated, and large-scale violation of First Amendment free speech rights by the federal government’s executive branch in US history.”
According to the Justice Department, “An employee may not use his public office for his own private gain or for that of persons or organizations with which he is associated personally.”
An astonishing release of discovery documents revealed a vast federal censorship army, with more than 80 officials across at least 11 agencies having secretly been given privileged status and special channels to censor speech on social media platforms.https://t.co/tWc3N4IlFb
— Michael P Senger (@michaelpsenger) July 14, 2023
From this article which is here and you should read: Fauci’s Red Guards: Lawsuit Reveals Vast Federal Censorship Army
As it turns out, an astonishing new release of discovery documentsin Missouri v. Biden—in which NCLA Legal is representing plaintiffs including Jay Bhattacharya, Martin Kulldorff, and Aaron Kheriaty against the Biden administration for violations of free speech during Covid—reveal a vast federal censorship army, with more than 80 federal officials across at least 11 federal agencies having secretly coordinated with social media companies to censor private speech.
Secretary Mayorkas of DHS commented that the federal Government’s efforts to police private speech on social media are occurring “across the federal enterprise.” It turns out that this statement is true, on a scale beyond what Plaintiffs could ever have anticipated. The limited discovery produced so far provides a tantalizing snapshot into a massive, sprawling federal “Censorship Enterprise,” which includes dozens of federal officials across at least eleven federal agencies and components identified so far, who communicate with social-media platforms about misinformation, disinformation, and the suppression of private speech on social media—all with the intent and effect of pressuring social-media platforms to censor and suppress private speech that federal officials disfavor.
The scale of this federal censorship enterprise appears to be far beyond what anyone imagined, involving even senior White House officials. The government is protecting Anthony Fauci and other high level officials by refusing to reveal documents related to their involvement.
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. And it rises to the highest levels of the U.S. Government, including numerous White House officials… In their initial response to interrogatories, Defendants initially identified forty-five federal officials at DHS, CISA, the CDC, NIAID, and the Office of the Surgeon General (all within only two federal agencies, DHS and HHS), who communicate with social-media platforms about misinformation and censorship.
Federal officials are coordinating to censor private speech across all major social media platforms.
The third-party social-media platforms, moreover, have revealed that more federal agencies are involved. Meta, for example, has disclosed that at least 32 federal officials—including senior officials at the FDA, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, and the White House—have communicated with Meta about content moderation on its platforms, many of whom were not disclosed in response to Plaintiffs’ interrogatories to Defendants. YouTube disclosed eleven federal officials engaged in such communications, including officials at the Census Bureau and the White House, many of whom were also not disclosed by Defendants. Twitter disclosed nine federal officials, including senior officials at the State Department who were not previously disclosed by Defendants.
Basically the Twitter Files, Missouri v Biden, and now the Facebook Files all reveal the disturbing extent of censorship in the U.S.. It’s not about right vs wrong views, but the ability to freely express one’s opinions without the government clamping down on “misinformation.”