Republican Rep. Jim Jordan says “smoking-gun documents” provide evidence that Meta Inc, formerly Facebook, censored Americans on behalf of the Biden administration.
In April 2021, email correspondence within Facebook showed CEO Mark Zuckerberg was informed that his company was “facing continued pressure from external stakeholders, including the [Biden] White House’ to remove posts.”
“Never-before-released internal documents subpoenaed by the Judiciary Committee PROVE that Facebook and Instagram censored posts and changed their content moderation policies because of unconstitutional pressure from the Biden White House,” Jordan explained.
As many Americans have witnessed, Facebook allows “independent” fact-checkers to run amok on its platform. They solely determine what the truth really is. However, the fact-checkers themselves are sometimes wrong.
In the months leading up to the 2020 presidential election, fact-checkers censored information about Hunter Biden’s laptop in a massive, politically motivated cover-up scandal. Fact-checkers wrongfully buried the story, labeling it “false.”
THE FACEBOOK FILES, PART 1: SMOKING-GUN DOCS PROVE FACEBOOK CENSORED AMERICANS BECAUSE OF BIDEN WHITE HOUSE PRESSURE
🧵 Thread:
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) July 27, 2023
Never-before-released internal documents subpoenaed by the Judiciary Committee PROVE that Facebook and Instagram censored posts and changed their content moderation policies because of unconstitutional pressure from the Biden White House.
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) July 27, 2023
“During the first half of 2021, social media companies like Facebook faced tremendous pressure from the Biden White House—both publicly and privately—to crack down on alleged ‘misinformation,’” Jordan said.
The email correspondence shows that Facebook admitted to removing content that represented “a significant incursion into traditional boundaries of free expression in the US.”
Senior Biden adviser Andy Slavitt expressed his frustration with Facebook’s refusal to censor Americans.
“What happened next? Facebook panicked,” Jordan wrote. “In another April 2021 email, Brian Rice, Facebook’s VP of public policy, raised the concern that Slavitt’s challenge felt ‘very much like a crossroads for us with the [Biden] White House in these early days.’”
The power of fact-checking is left in the hands of an elite few. In the U.S., there are 10 verified fact-checkers who can decide at their sole discretion whether to censor information. There are no checks and balances on this process to prevent fact-checkers themselves from making mistakes. Even the fact-checkers themselves will disagree with each other.
During the first half of 2021, social media companies like Facebook faced tremendous pressure from the Biden White House—both publicly and privately—to crack down on alleged “misinformation."
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) July 27, 2023
In April 2021, a Facebook employee circulated an email for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg, writing: “We are facing continued pressure from external stakeholders, including the [Biden] White House” to remove posts. pic.twitter.com/iDRV3Kk2oO
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) July 27, 2023
Jordan continued, “Facebook wanted to repair its relationship with the White House to avoid adverse action.”
According to internal documents, a Facebook staffer said, “Given what is at stake here, it would also be a good idea if we could regroup and take stock of where we are in our relations with the [White House], and our internal methods too.”
“This wasn’t the first time that the Biden White House was angry that Facebook didn’t censor more,” Jordan said as he proceeded to list more examples.
“In July 2021, President Biden publicly denounced Facebook and other social media platforms, claiming they were ‘killing people’ by not censoring alleged ‘misinformation,’” Jordan wrote.
“On August 2, 2021, Facebook admitted it was going to change its policies because of pressure from the Biden White House.”
“It wasn’t just the White House,” Jordan added. “Facebook also changed its policies in direct response to pressure from Biden’s Surgeon General, censoring members of the ‘disinformation dozen'” for sharing claims about COVID.
In April 2021, a Facebook employee circulated an email for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg, writing: “We are facing continued pressure from external stakeholders, including the [Biden] White House” to remove posts. pic.twitter.com/iDRV3Kk2oO
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) July 27, 2023
In another April 2021 email, Nick Clegg, Facebook’s president for global affairs, informed his team at Facebook that Andy Slavitt, a Senior Advisor to President Biden, was “outraged . . . that [Facebook] did not remove” a particular post. pic.twitter.com/5muflAQjcx
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) July 27, 2023
“Only after the Committee announced its intention to hold Mark Zuckerberg in contempt did Facebook produce ANY internal documents to the Committee, including these documents, which PROVE that government pressure was directly responsible for censorship on Facebook,” Jordan said.
“Based on Facebook’s newfound commitment to fully cooperate with the Committee’s investigation, the Committee has decided to hold contempt in abeyance. For now. To be clear, contempt is still on the table and WILL be used if Facebook fails to cooperate in FULL.”
Jordan concluded by saying, “To be continued.”
