If today's @Weaponization Committee hearing on our case Missouri v. Biden proved anything, it's that the Biden Administration has been coercing social media companies to censor free speech. Here's a glimpse at the evidence our case has uncovered so far:
From the very first days of the Biden Administration, senior White House officials engaged in a relentless pressure campaign, both in public and in private, to coerce platforms into censoring disfavored viewpoints on social media.
Here, WH Digital Director @RFlaherty46 tells Facebook that he "really couldn't care less" about how they're censoring information as long as "they're having measurable impact":
Here, the White House calls for the censorship of major conservative voices @TomiLahren and @TuckerCarlson:
Here, the WH tells Google that the order to censor "misinformation" comes from "the highest (and I mean highest) levels of the WH":
Surgeon General Murthy and his staff coordinate closely with the White House in this pressure campaign, causing social-media platforms to scramble and assure federal officials that “we hear your call to do more” to censor disfavored viewpoints:
When the social media companies weren't moving fast enough to censor speech, White House officials threatened to repeal their liability protection under Section 230.
Former Press Sec @jrpsaki pressured social media companies from the White House podium to work with them to censor disfavored speech by threatening their Section 230 protections:
But that's not all.
The FBI and DHS met with social media companies weekly for months leading up to the 2020 election as they worked together to censor "misinformation", such as the Hunter Biden laptop story:
FBI Agent Elvis Chan told our office that the FBI cooperates with at least seven social media companies through "information sharing and account takedowns" to censor speech:
FBI Agent Chan also testified that the FBI sends lists of accounts, content, websites, and URLs to social media platforms for censorship about “one to five times per month":
CISA, housed in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and created originally to ward off foreign cyberattacks, has now been weaponized to suppress domestic speech. This is the same group that launched the Orwellian “Disinformation Governance Board” last year.
Housed in CISA, the "Mis-, Dis, & Malinformation" Team started in 2018 as the Countering Foreign Influence Taskforce to ward off foreign cyberattacks. In 2021, the CFITF changed its name, reflecting its shift from foreign threats to domestic speech.
Here, the group reached out to Twitter, Google, Meta, and Microsoft following the botched rollout of DHS’ Disinformation Governance Board emphasizing their "continued partnership" to censor free speech:
CISA continues to work to censor free speech. Here, Twitter “actioned” (censored) accounts under their “civic integrity policies” after CISA flagged them:
Here, we see CISA offers to help the major social media companies connect with local election offices to combat "misinformation" on local elections:
CISA’s website long proclaimed that it “serves as a switchboard for routing disinformation concerns to appropriate social media platforms":
This is only the tip of the iceberg.
We presented these facts (and 1,400 others) to the Court in our motion for preliminary injunction earlier this month. The Biden Administration asked the Court to throw out our filing because it was "too long."
After seeing all of this evidence, the Court rejected Biden's motion to dismiss and has set a hearing date for later this spring. We look forward to presenting our evidence as we ask the Court to block the federal government from censoring any more speech.
This suit is the most important First Amendment case in a generation, and I'm proud to be leading the way in defending Americans' most fundamental rights.
The federal government had a hard time convincing a judge last week that it hasn't been working with and coercing social media companies to censor free speech.
Some notable moments from the first hearing in our First Amendment case, Missouri v. Biden:
The judge asked the feds if they had ever read George Orwell’s 1984, pointing out the similarities between the case and the book.
The Court asked the feds if all the emails between them and social media companies were real because "it seems like there's a lot here." The feds were forced to admit the tens of thousands of pages of evidence are genuine.
My office seeks to protect consumers and hold accountable those who illegally plague Missourians with unwanted phone calls.
We filed suit with 47 other AGs against Avid Telecom for sending more than 7.5 billion calls to phone numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry.
The lawsuit alleges that Avid Telecom initiated and facilitated billions of illegal robocalls to millions of people, thereby violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the Telemarketing Sales Rule, and other federal and state telemarketing and consumer laws.
My office has already filed suit against one of Avid Telecom’s customers. Avid Telecom assisted that customer in sending more than four billion robocalls between May 2019 and March 2021.
I've joined a coalition of 27 AGs to call on Congress to take action on Biden's unconstitutional pistol brace rule.
Although we have filed a lawsuit challenging the pistol brace rule—and have sought preliminary injunctive relief—Congress has a role to play here.
The pistol brace rule is an egregious overreach. For over a decade, the ATF has recognized that pistols equipped with stabilizing braces are not short-barreled rifles subject to the registration and tax requirements of the Gun Control Act of 1968 and the National Firearms Act.
The ATF has now reversed course without statutory authority and is requiring registration of pistols with stabilizing braces by the end of May. If an individual fails to register or otherwise dispose of a pistol with a brace, then they will be guilty of a serious federal felony.
BREAKING: The Eighth Circuit has granted our motion to halt Biden's unlawful attempt to impose burdensome ozone regulations on energy producers throughout the state.
This is a huge win for Missouri consumers and energy producers alike.
Biden's radical climate agenda is a direct threat to Missouri power plants.
His unconstitutional attempt to legislate through the EPA would force Missourians' energy costs to increase exponentially, while simultaneously risking the security of our power grid.
Yet again, @POTUS continues to cause problems for everyday Missourians while ignoring his constitutionally mandated responsibilities.
Joe Biden’s immigration policy is so egregious that we can’t even finish one lawsuit before needing to amend it to address something else.
I am moving for emergency relief from the Biden Administration’s unlawful attempt to further open the southern border.
Not only did @POTUS allow Title 42 to expire, but he followed up with a new program to release thousands of illegal immigrants into the U.S. each day. My motion seeks a court order to force the Biden Administration not to implement this illegal program.
I am joined in filing this motion by 12 other AGs in our existing lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security for the Biden Administration’s refusal to secure the southern border.
As Attorney General, I will always defend the rights of states to protect the unborn.
To that end, I filed an amicus brief with 17 other AGs to defend Ohio’s Heartbeat Act, which prevents performing or inducing an abortion after a heartbeat is detected.
The people’s elected representatives in Ohio have spoken on the issue of abortion, and that decision by the state legislature needs to be protected.
As abortion disputes have, after Dobbs, returned to the States, state courts have been urged to continue distorting the law to protect abortion.