AMAC Exclusive – By Aaron Flanigan
Six months after the release of the first batch of the “Twitter Files,” many Americans are still absorbing the troubling extent to which social media executives conspired with federal bureaucrats to suppress public debate and censor dissenting political thought. But as revelatory as the “Twitter Files” have been, they likely only account for half the story—and House Republicans now have the power to further expose the seedy underbelly of the left’s censorship industry.
Because Elon Musk and the various contributors to the “Twitter Files” only have access to internal Twitter records, the public is still missing key details surrounding the scope of the federal government’s role in the censorship of American citizens. Fortunately, the recently formed Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government provides the House GOP with the perfect vehicle to fill out the public’s understanding of the blatant censorship and free speech violations committed by Silicon Valley in coordination with government agents.
Of course, the information publicized thus far in the “Twitter Files” has been enormously significant. The trove of emails, memos, and text messages have demonstrated, among other things, how former Twitter executives intentionally silenced conservatives under the guise of “content moderation,” constructed “blacklists” to target certain users, and colluded with the FBI and intelligence apparatus to manufacture the Russia Hoax and stifle information about the 2020 presidential election that contradicted the media’s preferred talking points.
Given that Musk and other figures behind the release of the “Twitter Files” were able to unearth large amounts of damning information in only a matter of months, it seems likely that the House Weaponization Committee could find much more if it pursued additional investigations into the government’s involvement in Big Tech’s censorship operations as well.
There are already some indications that House GOP leadership is moving in this direction. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) of the House Judiciary Committee issued subpoenas to the heads of three federal agencies in April. According to the Washington Examiner, subpoenas “were sent to Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Jen Easterly, who heads the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and James Rubin, coordinator of the Global Engagement Center.”
These subpoenas were issued following reports that the Global Engagement Center, an entity within the State Department, funded the Global Disinformation Index—a group that has blacklisted conservative-leaning news organizations. Along with working with Big Tech companies to censor accounts that suggested the virus which causes COVID-19 escaped from a lab – a theory the U.S. government has now admitted is not only plausible but likely – the Global Disinformation Index pressured advertisers to sever ties with news outlets that promoted the theory.
Moreover, as the “Twitter Files” themselves have shown, federal officials repeatedly exchanged emails with Twitter and Facebook executives.
In several cases, members of the Biden administration pressured Big Tech “content moderators” to censor specific posts and accounts that criticized the president or his policies. At the very least, Americans deserve more transparency on how frequent this practice was, and if such actions constitute First Amendment violations.
But House Republicans have the opportunity to take it a step further.
A New York Post report from December 2022 revealed that, in the months leading up to the 2020 election, American voters were subjected to a “federal conspiracy” to silence anyone who questioned mail-in voting procedures. As James Bovard noted in the Post, a November 2022 report published by the censorship watchdog group Foundation for Freedom Online (FFO) postulated that, beginning in early summer 2020, the Department of Homeland Security pressured online platforms to “pre-censor” all speech that “cast doubt” on any public perception of illegitimacy surrounding the 2020 election.
Additionally, as Bovard noted in a March 2023 follow-up report, the censorship apparatus smeared any questioning of the government’s official COVID policies as tactics “commonly used by spreaders of misinformation to deflect culpability.”
As nefarious as these revelations appear, however, they are likely only the beginning of the scandals that could be uncovered. House Republicans should use every tool at their disposal to ensure that any and all evidence of government censorship is released for the American people to judge for themselves.
Until the various actors and agents participating in the left’s censorship regime are exposed and held legally and politically accountable, they will almost certainly continue to target the lawful speech of American citizens. With their new House majority, Republicans have the chance of a lifetime to stop the vast and growing censorship and control apparatus being constructed by federal agencies working in concert with Silicon Valley tech giants and restore the quintessential American value of free speech. They should not hesitate to take it.
Aaron Flanigan is the pen name of a writer in Washington, D.C.
