Thursday, October 20, 2022

Biden Administration Sued for Censoring Speech: State AGs Accuse Officials of Colluding with Tech Companies; 47 New Biden Administration Defendants Named in Government–Big Tech Censorship Lawsuit

Associated Press
Biden administration sued for censoring speech:
State AGs accuse officials of colluding with tech companies
More than 50 government officials across 13 agencies “threatened, cajoled and colluded” with social media companies to silence online speech about topics the Biden administration disliked such as election integrity, the origins of the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 restrictions, according to a lawsuit filed by state attorneys general.
The interaction with Big Tech, the lawsuit said, expanded upon FBI efforts during the 2020 presidential campaign to block social media posts about incriminating evidence found on Hunter Biden’s laptop.
In a 164-page legal filing, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry and Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, both Republicans, detailed a massive, sprawling “censorship enterprise” within the Biden White House to pressure Facebook, Google, Twitter and other tech companies to “suppress private speech that federal officials disfavor.”
Inappropriate speech, according to the lawsuit, includes questioning whether the virus that causes COVID-19 originated in a Chinese lab, the effectiveness of masks and the veracity of 2020 election results.
The lawsuit strikes at the heart of what critics say is a nefarious alliance between Democratic officials and Big Tech to suppress and discredit conservative voices.
According to the attorneys general, this suppression of online speech violates the First Amendment rights of citizens in their states. They said the full impact of the censorship remains unknown. --->READ MORE HERE
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
47 New Biden Administration Defendants Named in Government–Big Tech Censorship Lawsuit:
Nearly 50 new government defendants have been added to the lawsuit that alleges the U.S. government induced censorship of state officials and others on social media.
The second amended complaint in the case, Missouri v. Biden, includes six new agencies, bringing that total to 13, and 41 new individual defendants, boosting that total to 54.
Altogether, 67 officials or agencies are accused of violating plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights by participating in a “censorship enterprise” through pressuring Big Tech firms such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter to take action against users offering alleged misinformation.
Evidence backing the claims has been produced in discovery, including exchanges between White House officials and Meta, Facebook’s parent company, and messages showing meetings between administration officials and the firms.
The new defendants include the FBI; former White House senior COVID-19 adviser Andrew Slavitt; Dana Remus, counsel to President Joe Biden; Elvis Chan, an FBI special agent based in San Francisco; Janell Muhammed, deputy digital director at the Department of Health and Human Services; Allison Snell, an official at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency; the Food and Drug Administration (FDA); the State Department; and Mark Robbins, interim executive director of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. --->READ MORE HERE

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