Quote:Officials from the Biden White House and other federal agencies have repeatedly colluded with social media companies, including Twitter and Facebook, on censoring COVID-19 stories.

The relationship between the federal government and major social media platforms was unearthed through a lawsuit filed by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry in May.

Though more documents and emails are expected to be revealed as a result of the lawsuit, currently available communications obtained by the offices of the Attorneys General already show a deep relationship between 45 officials from the Department of Homeland Security, Center for Disease Control, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, Office of the Surgeon General, and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

Officials from the aforementioned agencies have communicated with social media platforms on issues such as COVID-19 “misinformation” and, in response, censorship.

“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,” explained the Attorneys General.

Examples of emails obtained via the lawsuit include a senior Facebook official emailing the Surgeon General stating, “I know our teams met today to better understand the scope of what the White House expects from us on misinformation going forward.”

The same senior official sent an additional email to the Department of Health and Human Services, noting, “Thanks again for taking the time to meet earlier today.” Then, the official continued to discuss the measures Facebook was implementing to address COVID-19 “misinformation,” including mass removal of pages and individuals from the platform.



Twitter representatives also scheduled a meeting to debrief top White House officials on “vaccine misinformation.”

In several cases, Facebook relied on input from the Centers for Diseases Control (CDC) when making a final decision on censoring users or stories.



Twitter appeared to have a similar relationship with the agency in a separate email where an employee from the social media platform discussed setting up “regular chats” to address “problematic content.”



The CDC also proposed a monthly pre-debunking meeting with Facebook to address COVID-19 “misinformation” as well as regular “Be on the Lookout” calls with major social media outlets including YouTube.

A White House official even reached out to Facebook representatives to take down a parody account of Anthony Fauci. The email was sent at 1:24 PM on July 20th and received a response – “Yep, on it!” – from a Facebook employee time stamped at 1:24.



The findings expand upon a previously known relationship between America’s leading social media platforms and the federal government concerning COVID-19 censorship.

“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,” explained the lawsuit.

It also follows the same social media platform heavily censoring stories critical of COVID-19 vaccines and of the Chinese Communist Party for being responsible for the origins of COVID-19.

Link

Will the lefties here care that their administration was actively violating the first amendment rights of Americans?

(09-02-2022 05:18 PM)banker Wrote:  Will the lefties here care that their administration was actively violating the first amendment rights of Americans?

Well. They don’t believe in the Constitution when it stands in the way of getting what they want. So, no.


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Ruling Today: Government Cornered in Court on Social Media Censorship

Quote:It’s been a great week for justice.

The states of Missouri and Louisiana are suing the Federal Government, alleging that they colluded with big tech to silence non-state-sponsored opinions about COVID and masking (among other things) on social media. This isn’t a news flash to anyone, but the states are right.

I won’t get into all the legalese because even though it interests me, it would likely bore you to tears. Still, Missouri and Louisiana are alleging that the Biden administration colluded with big tech to censor opinions and facts it doesn’t like, which is an infringement on the 1st Amendment rights of the citizens who live in that state. It is also a direct affront by the Federal government to those states.

In lawsuits, you have to produce discovery. And, in the expedited discovery that the judge granted, the government has already been cornered. They colluded with social media companies to silence Americans. The emails they were forced to produce PROVE they did, and now the states want to expand the entire thing to even MORE agencies.

Of course, the government doesn’t want to produce anything, stating it would be “burdensome” and claiming that records are covered by “executive privilege.” (Fancy how that seems only to work one way). The judge ordered the two parties to try to come to some sort of agreement, and they couldn’t, so he made the decisions for them. That ruling came today, and it sure isn’t good for the government.

Here is what was decided today in the order for expedited discovery. This isn’t typical discovery that will proceed in the normal course; this is discovery on an expedited timetable due to the potential harm and to justify a temporary injunction stopping the government from colluding with private entities to quench free speech. Or, to say it another way, the judge is super concerned about the Biden administration engaging in FASCISM.

First, the government said, “Well, if they get this discovery on us, then we want it on them too!” They didn’t define what they want or why; they just said, “Judge, make them give us stuff because we have to give them stuff!” The judge smacked it down. Denied.

Then, the government refused to comply with court-ordered interrogatories in the case, seeking information from Karine Jean-Pierre in her acting role as Press Secretary and Anthony Fauci in his role as Chief Medical Advisor to the President. The government tried to claim this information was all privileged, and the states argued that they weren’t looking for INTERNAL communications between those two and the President, but OUTSIDE communications with social media companies. The judge has now ruled that these two must turn over ALL of their communications with social media companies on an expedited schedule and that this is inherent to the Plaintiff’s case. Smackdown from the judge. Recipient? Government. The judge also intimates that the social media companies have already turned over some responsive documents (they sure have) and that it isn’t burdensome for the government to have to do the same.

Just ponder for a moment what we are going to find in all of those emails when THIS has ALREADY been revealed:

Additionally, the government tried to weasel around providing any responsive information regarding the department of Health and Human Services.

“Plaintiffs also served interrogatories and document requests on HHS. Plaintiffs allege that HHS effectively exempted itself from discovery responses by only providing information from its agencies, the Surgeon General’s office, NIAID, and the CDC. Plaintiffs further alleged that Meta (one of the third-party social media platforms) disclosed several senior officials, outside of the CDC, the Office of Surgeon General, and NIAID, that likely engaged in responsive communications with Meta, including HHS’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Engagement, the head of HHS’s Digital Engagement Team, the Deputy Director of the Office of Communications in HRSA, and HHS’s Deputy Digital Director. Plaintiffs allege none of these officials, or communications, were disclosed to Plaintiffs by HHS in answering the discovery requests.”

Well, Meta came in to save the day. When it responded to expedited discovery, it provided information that identified individuals within the Health and Human Services Department who were communicating with Meta about “misinformation.” The judge has now ordered the government to respond fully to this discovery request within 21 days. TWENTY-ONE DAYS.

Bottom line? The government has really stepped in it here. The little discovery that has been obtained already proves what we have all known; that the government colluded with and directed major social media companies to censor and ban Americans who refused to toe the line and stick with the pre-approved (and incorrect) script when it comes to COVID-19. But the case has broader implications than just COVID.

These companies have been hiding under Section 230 to attempt to squelch all dissent for years. It’s just the very first time we have been able to see it in black and white. They didn’t need a “disinformation” governance board. They were just pushing the envelope. I have been saying all along that it was just a guise to see if the American people would actually accept it. Instead, they have been engaged in fascism, squelching all dissent and using the boot of the government to harm their citizens.

There is going to be more to this case, as the judge has addressed the additional defendants the states want to add, including the State Department, the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”), the Census Bureau, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, the U.S. Treasury Department, and the Federal Bureau of Investigations. What a playground THAT is going to be! Imagine for a moment the FBI forced to hand over all of the communications about COVID “Mis, dis, and mal-information” that it has had over the past few years. And why is the Election Assistance Commission involved? 2020 election, anyone?

This is a very big deal. A VERY big deal.

Brave judges are going to save this country. I just wish there were more of them.

Link

(09-02-2022 05:18 PM)banker Wrote:  Will the lefties here care that their administration was actively violating the first amendment rights of Americans?

Nope. And, neither will our resident "independent".