Government censors dismayed their attacks on social media get complicated

(Pixabay)

By Jason Cohen
Daily Caller News Foundation

The formerly strong coalition including government agencies and technology platforms, which collaborated to censor perceived disinformation, is dismayed due to its dissolution following years of sustained Republican pushback and recent court rulings, NBC News reported on Friday.

Republicans began publicly criticizing this coalition’s efforts during the 2020 election when social media users experienced significant censorship, according to NBC. The discourse eventually led to legal efforts and government investigations, which have now successfully halted nearly all collaboration between the government and social media companies, to the point where they allegedly need preemptive approval from lawyers.

Two U.S. technology platforms, which were previously accustomed to frequent briefings from the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force, have not received any contact from the bureau for months, employees told NBC. Moreover, any engagements between the FBI and the platforms must receive prior approval and oversight from Department of Justice lawyers, individuals familiar with the situation told NBC.

Get the hottest, most important news stories on the Internet – delivered FREE to your inbox as soon as they break! Take just 30 seconds and sign up for WND's Email News Alerts!

The relationship between the FBI and social media companies in response to the Missouri v. Biden free speech lawsuit rulings has drastically transformed, FBI Director Christopher Wray recently indicated in testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

“We’re having some interaction with social media companies,” Wray stated. “But all of those interactions have changed fundamentally in the wake of the court rulings.”

Is the government desperate to censor social media?

A federal judge and appeals court found that certain government agencies and officials should be barred from coordinating with social media platforms to censor posts. The Supreme Court paused the injunction blocking these efforts but has agreed to take up the case.

“This is the worst possible outcome in terms of the injunction,” a U.S. official familiar with the situation told NBC. “The symbiotic relationship between the government and the social media companies has definitely been fractured.”

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told lawmakers in 2022 that the department had established a Disinformation Governance Board to counter misinformation and disinformation aimed at minority communities. The board, headed by Nina Jankowicz, received significant scrutiny from Republicans and the DHS halted it.

“I understand we don’t want to interdict constitutionally protected speech, but what is constitutionally protected speech?” Republican Utah Sen. Mitt Romney recently stated. “Certainly foreign agents don’t have constitutionally protected speech because they’re not subject to our Constitution. I presume bots don’t have constitutionally protected speech. American citizens do.”

“If you’re the one who’s raising the alarm about foreign interference or about something that is disenfranchising people and letting the platforms know, but it might cost you your job or your safety and security, you think twice about doing that,” Jankowicz stated, according to NBC.

The DHS’ Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has also ceased its coordination with social media platforms, a current CISA employee told NBC.

“Some of these efforts really are designed to isolate people and make them feel like they can’t communicate with CISA, like they can’t communicate with their peers in other states,” an individual employed in state election administration told NBC. “People feel that things are really, really fraught, and common sense does not rule today.”

CISA Director Jen Easterly withdrew from social media following conservative criticism, two individuals familiar with CISA told NBC. “At this point in time, I do not think the risk of us dealing with social media platforms is worth any benefit, quite frankly,” Easterly said, according to NBC. “I made a decision not to do that. So we are not doing that. Local election officials can give that to the platforms themselves, and I think that’s the right place for us to be.”

A current anonymous employee at billionaire Elon Musk’s X — formerly Twitter — expressed a lack of confidence regarding the platform’s ability to tackle propaganda efforts. “The company no longer has the team, the tools, or the capabilities to identify and mitigate these attacks,” the employee told NBC.

The FBI, DHS, CISA and X did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

This story originally was published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].

IMPORTANT NOTE TO WND READERS: Shortly after Hamas terrorists fired over 5,000 rockets from Gaza into Israel on Oct. 7 and then proceeded to attack the Jewish state by land, sea and air – torturing, burning, beheading and murdering well over a thousand people, including women, children and infants, and wounding and abducting hundreds more – world reaction was, in its own way, almost equally shocking.

For after the biggest one-day mass slaughter of Jews since the Nazi Holocaust, what followed was an outpouring of celebratory demonstrations, unbridled Jew-hatred, deliriously gleeful support for Hamas and bitter condemnation of the nation of Israel. Not just in the Arab-Muslim world, but throughout the Western world as well, including all across America.

Why? What is behind the explosion of anti-Israel, anti-Jewish, pro-terror sentiment in the United States, where Israel has long been one of America's closest friends and allies? Why are hordes of young "woke" LGBT demonstrators marching in support of Hamas – when Hamas wouldn't think twice about binding and blindfolding them and throwing them off the roof of a tall building – as they routinely do in the Muslim world?

It turns out there's one area of agreement that is so powerful, deep-seated and all-consuming that the vast differences between the deranged left and the murderous jihadists melt away into Kumbaya harmony.

All of this and much more is completely exposed in November's issue of WND's critically acclaimed monthly Whistleblower magazine, titled ISRAEL VS. GLOBAL JIHAD: How Jew-hatred, radical Islam and Leftism are pushing us toward World War III. Beyond a deeply insightful dive into why leftists are surging toward radical Islam – which hates and dreams of raping and butchering them – this Whistleblower issue includes fantastic articles by everyone from top Israeli analyst (and former Israel Defense Forces officer) Caroline Glick to Harvest Christian Fellowship's Pastor Greg Laurie on the current war in Israel and biblical prophecies regarding the End Times … which he says are now upon us.

WHISTLEBLOWER is available in both the popular print edition and a state-of-the-art digital version, either single issues or discounted annual subscriptions.

For 25 years, WND has boldly brought you the news that really matters. If you appreciate our Christian journalists and their uniquely truthful reporting and analysis, please help us by becoming a WND Insider!

SUPPORT TRUTHFUL JOURNALISM. MAKE A DONATION TO THE NONPROFIT WND NEWS CENTER. THANK YOU!