FBI does not suppress free speech, says Director Wray
- He claimed the agency is not instructing social media companies to suppress free speech, but “alerts” them when there are potential problems.
- “Obviously we’re going to comply,” Wray said. “We sent guidelines to the field and headquarters on how to do that”
FBI Director Christopher Wray insisted his office moved to comply with a Missouri court order ordering the Biden administration to suspend contact with social media companies.
He claimed the agency is not instructing social media companies to suppress free speech, but “alerts” them when there are potential problems.
“Obviously we’re going to comply,” Wray said. “We sent guidelines to the field and headquarters on how to do that. Needless to say, the order itself is the subject of pending litigation.”
Trump-appointed Louisiana federal judge Terry Doughty banned members of the Biden White House, the Justice Department and the FBI from interacting with social media executives.
FBI Director Christopher Wray insisted his office moved to comply with a Missouri court order ordering the Biden administration to cease contact with social media companies
He refused to block his own order while the Biden administration appealed it to the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
The case was brought by Republican attorneys general in Missouri and Louisiana, who argued that U.S. government officials had gone too far in trying to encourage social media companies to post messages they feared could contribute to vaccine hesitation during the COVID -19 pandemic or could disrupt the elections.
The injunction prohibited agencies from speaking to social media companies for “the purpose of urging, encouraging, coercing, or in any way inciting the removal, removal, suppression, or reduction of content that protected freedom of expression.” contains’ under the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment of the Constitution.
However, critics said the order was broad and unclear and could curb the government’s efforts to combat misinformation on important topics.
Some worry it could hamper efforts to combat false and misleading narratives as Americans prepare for the 2024 presidential election.
And government officials argued that the tech companies control their own misinformation policies and that officials’ comments on issues and policies are viewed as threats.
U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty, who was appointed by Donald Trump, refused to block his own order to prevent contact between government officials and Big Tech
“We’ve issued guidelines to everyone,” said Wray, who declined to say whether anyone would be penalized for their contact with social media companies. “I’m not going to talk about human resources, we haven’t made such decisions in this state.”
Key learning points:
- ‘Absolutely not!’ Wray insists he is not protecting the Biden family after GOP Representative Matt Gaetz displays a ‘shakedown’ WhatsApp message from Hunter Biden
- Republicans are tearing up the FBI’s 204,000 inappropriate FISA searches: “People were looking up themselves, looking up their ex-lovers and using the FISA process as their creepy personal sniffing machine,” Gaetz said
- Wray says he’s “not sure” if there were undercover agents at the Capitol complex on Jan. 6, but it’s “ridiculous” to say the agency was involved in the attack
- Wray said he was “baffled” by the memo on “radical traditional Catholics” from the Richmond field office and the FBI conducted an investigation
- “The behavior in the Durham report was totally unacceptable,” Wray said. ‘It must never happen again’
- Wray insists he’s not biased against conservatives because he is one: ‘The idea that I’m biased against conservatives strikes me as somewhat insane given my own personal background’
- Says agency not targeting pro-life protesters – ‘Most of the investigations we’ve opened since the Dobbs decision…70% of them were violence against pro-life facilities’
Earlier this week, the commission released a report based on subpoenas from Meta and Alphabet that found that after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukraine’s intelligence agency enlisted the FBI to help combat “Russian disinformation on social media.”
The FBI has forwarded Ukraine’s takedown requests to social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Youtube.
‘Where do you find the [national security] interest in tearing down the freedom of speech of American citizens?’ asked Representative Darrell Issa. “Where did you get that authority?”
“We’re not asking social media companies to censor information,” Wray insisted.
“What we do is warn them if another intelligence agency gives us information about a foreign intelligence agency behind an account. We will draw the attention of social media companies to that,” he continued.
“The suggestion of the most powerful law enforcement operation is not a suggestion. It’s an order, in fact,’ Issa announced.
Wray claimed the agency never targeted conservatives — noting that he himself is a Republican.
“The idea that I am biased against conservatives strikes me as somewhat insane given my own personal background,” Wray told the committee.