Continuing the phase of discovery of government’s collusion with Big Tech and social media companies to influence political narratives and illegally shape public opinions, a federal judge ordered the Biden administration hand over documentation containing communications between the two entities.
It is the latest move freedom-loving Americans hope to see will shed more light on the corrupt relationship between the public and allegedly private sector, and builds upon the momentum seized by Elon Musk during the release of his Twitter Files.
Conservative Brief reported that Biden and his administration had thirty days to comply with the latest ruling.
President Joe Biden, members of his administration, and select social media companies must turn over documents and answer questions within the next 30 days during a discovery phase of a lawsuit alleging collusion to suppress freedom of speech, a court ruled. The attorneys general of Louisiana and Missouri filed a lawsuit in May alleging Biden and eight high-ranking members of his administration and the government colluded with and/or coerced social media companies Meta, Twitter, and YouTube to suppress “disfavored speakers, viewpoints, and content on social media platforms.”
Terry Doughty, a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, ruled there is “good cause” for the discovery process and set a timetable, including specific deadlines for depositions.
Conservative Brief wrote that the ruling stems from various social media outlets labeling posts and other content as “misformation” at the direction of not just its own discretion, but at the direction of federal guidance.
The lawsuit alleges that social media companies labeled information as “misinformation” and “disinformation” in violation of the First Amendment and that the federal government went beyond its authority, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Homeland Security violated the Administrative Procedure Act.
Ohio Representative Jim Jordan, whose name was floated by members of the House’s Freedom Caucus to challenge RINO Kevin McCarthy for the Speakership, sent a letter to many of the CEOs of the biggest companies in the tech space – among them Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft – accusing them as being the “woke speech police” for leftist Democrats.
“Big Tech is out to get conservatives, and is increasingly willing to undermine First Amendment values by complying with the Biden Administration’s directives that suppress freedom of speech online,” Jordan said. “This approach undermines fundamental American principles and allows powerful government actors to silence political opponents and stifle opposing viewpoints.”
Jordan demanded that these companies also hand over records relating to their improper communications with members of the administration dating back to January 2020 as part of their probe into “the Biden administration’s collusion with Big Tech to censor, silence, or reduce the reach of certain information and viewpoints.”
Along with Representative Jordan, Republican members of the House’s Oversight Committee also sent a letter to CEOs of Big Tech companies, specifically Twitter CEO Elon Musk and Meta (Facebook) CEO Mark Zuckerberg, for additional information on the suspect relationship between tech giants and the federal government.
“Despite these clear constitutional limits on government action, reports continue to surface that government officials and agencies have conducted censorship campaigns involving social media platforms. Whether working through the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, or other agencies, government officials should not tip the scale by urging social media platforms to disallow certain speech,” the letter stated.
“A bedrock principle of our democracy is free speech. The government, in concert with social media, should not tell Americans what they can and cannot say online,” they declared.
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