I ended the last post Censoring Science: Coerced Consensus with a clip from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claiming the Biden White House immediately after inauguration coerced Facebook to censor Kennedy. He has so far proven as much in courts. Two days after that post, the House of Representatives Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government issued a report backed by a plethora of documents proving the White House application of coercion to censor against virtually all major internet platforms. The report sums it up as follows:
Now, having obtained and reviewed tens of thousands of emails and other relevant nonpublic documents, the Committee and Select Subcommittee can provide a more complete picture of how and the extent to which the Biden White House coerced companies to suppress free speech.
• Big Tech Changed Their Content Moderation Policies Because of Biden White House Pressure. The Biden White House pressure campaign largely succeeded in 2021. In the weeks and months following the start of the White House pressure campaign, Facebook, YouTube, and Amazon all changed their content moderation policies. The White House pressured companies to censor information that did not violate their content moderation policies at the time. The best evidence to assess why content moderation policies were changed is to review relevant email correspondence and other documents at the time of the policy change. Indeed, both Facebook and Amazon referred to the Biden White House’s efforts as “pressure.” Here is a subset of key documents first obtained by the Committee and Select Subcommittee pursuant to subpoena:
o In March 2021, an Amazon employee emailed others within the company about the reason for the Amazon bookstore’s new content moderation policy change: “[T]he impetus for this request is criticism from the Biden Administration about sensitive books we’re giving prominent placement to.”
o In March 2021, just one day prior to a scheduled call with the White House, an Amazon employee explained how changes to Amazon’s bookstore policies were being applied “due to criticism from the Biden people.”
o In July 2021, when Facebook executive Nick Clegg asked a Facebook employee why the company censored the man-made theory of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the employee responded: “Because we were under pressure from the [Biden] administration and others to do more. . . . We shouldn’t have done it.”
o In August 2021, an internal Facebook email explained why the company was developing, and ultimately implementing, new content moderation policies: “[Facebook’s] Leadership asked Misinfo Policy . . . to brainstorm some additional policy levers we can pull to be more aggressive against . . . misinformation. This is stemming from the continued criticism of our approach from the [Biden] administration.”
o In September 2021, after receiving months of criticism for not censoring non-violative content, YouTube shared with the Biden White House a new “policy proposal” to censor more content criticizing the safety and efficacy of vaccines, asking for “any feedback” the White House could provide before the policy had been finalized. The White House gushed: “at first blush, seems like a great step.”
The full subcommittee report and its supporting documentation can be found here, Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government report.
Moving On Up a Little Higher 