House Republicans have their sights squarely set on Big Tech as their effort to reveal the shocking level of censorship by the Biden administration continues.
The Select Committee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government has already held a pair of hearings on the insidious collaboration exposed by the “Twitter Files.” Now, lawmakers, have their sights set on further exposure of collusion between Washington and social media platforms.
The panel, as House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) asserted, is charged with revealing how Big Tech and the Biden administration have marched in lockstep to “keep information from ‘We, the people.’”
Independent Substack journalist Matt Taibbi and testified before the committee on his role in publishing proof of federal agencies pressuring Twitter to censor speech. It is now clear that the government uses private companies to manipulate the narrative.
Jim Jordan's opening statement on the Weaponization of the Federal Government and the Twitter Files:
"Our government built a cozy relationship with big tech, they primed them for a hack and leak operation [Hunter Biden laptop], they funded the think-tank which further primed big… https://t.co/fsOujSyhMB pic.twitter.com/yumvENLsKP
— kanekoa.substack.com (@KanekoaTheGreat) March 9, 2023
In his opening statement, Taibbi declared that Twitter, Facebook, Google, and other companies implemented a formal system to accept moderation “requests” from every fact of Washington.
As the journalist explained, these platforms took censorship “suggestions” regularly “from the FBI, the DHS, the HHS, DoD, the Global Engagement Center at State, even the CIA.”
Their goal, of course, was to compile a list of people and entities whose “opinions, beliefs, associations, or sympathies” are categorized as misinformation or disinformation.
In that way, government censorship could be justified.
Taibbi explained that not only is the federal government working overtime to control the flow of information, but it enlisted private partners with considerable influence to assist in the task.
He told legislators that “for every government agency scanning Twitter, there were perhaps 20 quasi-private entities doing the same.” These collaborators included Stanford’s Election Integrity Project, NewsGuard, the Global Disinformation Index, and others.
Many of the censorious groups are taxpayer-funded.
For example, the Global Disinformation Index is a U.K.-based organization that creates clandestine lists of news organizations deemed “unworthy” of advertiser support. Everything from the New York Post and The Federalist to The Blaze and The Daily Wire are on its hit list.
The group drew controversy last month when it was revealed by the Washington Examiner that the U.S. State Department funneled taxpayer dollars to support its effort.
Though the Twitter Files have dominated headlines, the House committee is correct in noting that the federal government’s efforts extend far beyond merely one social media platform. There are many more rocks to be overturned before the depth of this collusion is fully revealed.
