BOMBSHELL REPORT: Leaked DHS Documents Show Collusion Between Government and Tech Companies
According to a report from The Intercept, leaked documents show that social media companies including Facebook and Twitter have been colluding with the federal government to censor and suppress content that the Department of Homeland Security and FBI determine to be “disinformation.”
According to The Intercept,
“The Department of Homeland Security is quietly broadening its efforts to curb speech it considers dangerous, an investigation by The Intercept has found. Years of internal DHS memos, emails, and documents — obtained via leaks and an ongoing lawsuit, as well as public documents — illustrate an expansive effort by the agency to influence tech platforms.”
“There is also a formalized process for government officials to directly flag content on Facebook or Instagram and request that it be throttled or suppressed through a special Facebook portal that requires a government or law enforcement email to use. At the time of writing, the “content request system” at facebook.com/xtakedowns/login is still live. DHS and Meta, the parent company of Facebook, did not respond to a request for comment. The FBI declined to comment.”
The Intercept
The Intercept also reports that according to DHS documents, the department plans to target topics including “the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, racial justice, U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the nature of U.S. support to Ukraine.”
The Department of Homeland Security was formed after the terrorist attacks on 9/11. The initial purpose of DHS was to implement strategies intended to protect the U.S. from terrorist threats and attacks. Despite this, DHS in recent years has broadened its power to specifically include suppressing speech. Several months ago, DHS formed its “Disinformation Governance Board” to crack down on alleged misinformation online. Following massive backlash and comparisons to Orwell’s “Ministry of Truth” in 1984, the Biden Administration paused the board’s work. But since the board was paused, DHS has continued to implement several initiatives that monitor what is being posted on social media.
It’s no secret that tech companies like Facebook and Twitter were censoring stories prior to the 2020 election. When the New York Post reported on Hunter Biden’s laptop, Twitter suspended their account. Facebook’s CEO Mark Zukerberg admitted on The Joe Rogan Podcast that the platform purposefully limited the potential reach of the Hunter Biden laptop story after his company received a request from the FBI. Facebook has also been spying on the private messages of users and reporting them to the FBI if they express “anti-government” or “anti-authority sentiment.”
Most Americans understood that social media platforms expressed some bias in their algorithms, but this report from The Intercept shows that their efforts are much more in-depth than most expected. The federal government is essentially using social media companies as a propaganda arm to push partisan political agendas. It is a massive violation of the First Amendment when the government begins incentivizing corporations to suppress and censor citizens’ free speech.
“How disinformation is defined by the government has not been clearly articulated, and the inherently subjective nature of what constitutes disinformation provides a broad opening for DHS officials to make politically motivated determinations about what constitutes dangerous speech.”
The Intercept
Prior to the 2020 election, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), an agency within DHS, held meetings with top tech companies such as Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Discord, Wikipedia, Microsoft, and others, to discuss how these companies would manage any “misinformation” on their platforms during the election. Over two years later, these meetings are still ongoing.
Vijaya Gadde, the former general counsel of Twitter who oversaw the handling of misinformation and harmful speech on the platform, was a member of a committee that oversaw CISA. This committee sent a report to the CISA director, stating that the agency should be expanded to shape the “information ecosystem.” The report also suggested the monitoring of “social media platforms of all sizes, mainstream media, cable news, hyper partisan media, talk radio and other online resources.” Since this report, Gadde has been fired from Twitter by Elon Musk after his takeover and privatization of the company.
Classical liberals used to be strong advocates of free speech. There were many on the left who would say that, though they disagree with what you have to say, they will defend your right to say it. Now it seems that political commentators and journalists on the left are silent over this breaking news.
Lee Fang, the co-author of The Intercept’s jaw-dropping story, appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight to explain and discuss his investigation. While the obvious reaction should have been outrage surrounding the revelations Fang presented, many leftist journalists on Twitter complained more about the fact that he appeared on Carlson’s show in the first place.
When the government is colluding with big tech companies to suppress information they do not like, our freedom of speech is under attack. Whether you are on the left or the right, you must ask yourself this question: do you trust the government to decide what’s considered disinformation and dangerous speech?
For more on this groundbreaking report, tune in to Human Events Daily HERE.
