Republicans Say DHS Likely ‘Height-Weapons’ Big Tech to SUPPRESS Americans’ Freedom of Speech
EXCLUSIVE: Republicans say Department of Homeland Security likely to ‘strongly weaponize’ Big Tech to SUPPRESS Americans’ free speech during 2020 election as censorship probe heats up
- Lawmakers say DHS collaborated with NGOs and social media companies to censor Americans’ speech
- Federal government may have used its power inappropriately to enforce social media content suppression in 2020, Republicans say
House Republicans are stepping up their investigation into the administration’s efforts to partner with independent organizations and social media companies to suppress Americans’ free speech during the 2020 election.
House Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., and Dan Bishop, RN.C., collaborated Wednesday in a letter to the head of an independent organization charged with ensuring the “integrity of elections” she accused of collaborating with government agencies – including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) – to withhold information.
The GOP lawmakers are investigating the “partnership” of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and social media companies that they say are “potentially suppressing American speech.”
They allege that the Center for Internet Security (CIS) created a “misinformation reporting system” during the 2020 election that enabled “interaction between election officials and their representatives, CISA, CIS and social media platforms.”
House Republicans are investigating administration efforts to cooperate with social media and suppress free speech during the 2020 election
According to lawmakers, CIS would receive a “disinformation report” from election officials or other NGOs and then forward those reports to social media companies.
The Republicans say that “CIS claimed that 61 percent of cases it “reported” up the chain to social media companies were either removed or labeled as disinformation.”
The content flagged as “misinformation” was election-related, according to a committee official.
Notably, lawmakers write that based on a post-action CIS report, it appears that the federal government may have improperly used its power to enforce the suppression of social media content.
“If there was no legal leverage to enforce social media cooperation during the 2020 election, was the federal government used as a strong arm through CISA?” ask lawmakers.
“There appears to be no other reason for CISA’s participation as an intermediary between CIS and social media companies,” they continue.
CISA officials have denied involvement in any form of censorship, which Republicans note.
Rep. Dan Bishop is the chair of the Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability Subcommittee
Department of Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas
Jen Easterly, director of CISA, testified before Congress in March 2023, saying, “We don’t censor anything. . . we do not report to social media organizations at all. . . we don’t censor.’
However, they say “the evidence discovered so far” suggests the contrary and that “proxy censorship” was involved through other partners – such as CIP and EIP.
The Republicans are suing that the “opaque nature” of the engagement has necessitated obtaining data directly from CIS.
They are demanding a series of communications between DHS and the NGOs regarding the 2020 misinformation reporting system.
DailyMail.com reached out to CIS for a response to the letter’s allegations.