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| Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/For WAPO via Getty Images |
House Oversight Committee Republicans are kicking off an investigation into what they called a “taxpayer-funded censorship campaign” at the Department of Homeland Security.
Since 2020, the federal agency has been under fire for working with Big Tech companies to censor certain viewpoints mainly related to election integrity. The GOP launched its investigation after Monday’s report by The Intercept dove into how the Feds had begun pressuring tech companies on a range of issues, including COVID-19, the vaccine for it, and Ukraine.
The Center Square obtained a letter from the group, led by ranking member Rep. James Comer, R-Ky. The letter, addressed to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, calls out an “extensive censorship campaign originating within DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.”
“CISA is framing any dissenting opinion disseminated online as a cyber threat to critical infrastructure,” the letter said. “CISA leverages partnerships with left-leaning private organizations—who have received millions of dollars in federal money—to identify and then take action against political speech unfavorable to the Administration, especially around its handling of COVID-19 policy.”
News of this effort from federal law enforcement sparked national controversy for details of the Biden administration’s persistent pressure on tech companies like Facebook to delete content it finds inappropriate. The Intercept reported that Facebook had an online portal where federal law enforcement could flag content that it wanted removed. --->READ MORE HERE
New letter demands documents on censorship partnership with private group, questions truthfulness of DHS secretary's public statements on border patrol agents.
In a blistering oversight letter, 16 prominent House Republicans are accusing the Homeland Security Department of using a private group to "silence narratives" during elections and directly challenging the honesty of Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas concerning allegations he made against border patrol agents.
The letter sent Wednesday night to Mayorkas was organized by Rep. James Comer, the likely chairman of the House Oversight Committee if the GOP wins control of Congress in next week's midterms. It includes signatures from many other top Republicans on oversight committees, including Reps. Jim Jordan of House Judiciary and Virginia Foxx, the ranking Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee.
"While the Administration publicly paused the creation of its Disinformation Governance Board, DHS continues to suppress dissenting viewpoints," the lawmakers wrote, citing a series of Just the News articles last month that highlighted how Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) collaborated with and endorsed the censorship activities of a private consortium called the Election Integrity Partnership.
Just the News reported the collaboration led to numerous requests to social media companies to censor, throttle or label as disinformation content involving 20 news sites, two dozen conservative influencers and nearly 22 million tweets during the 2020 election. The partnership recently announced it is back in action in 2022 and that some of its members got grants from the Biden administration.
Comer told Just the News that Republicans will make the censorship investigation a top priority, if they are in charge of the House next year. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to relevant/related stories:
+++++DHS Focused on Censorship While Crisis Rages on Southern Border+++++
The feds ‘disinformation’ fight is censorship, pure and simple
Republican National Committee Targets Google Censorship in Lawsuit
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