Disinformation and Free Speech
Kerby Anderson
On Independence Day, Federal Judge Terry Doughty issued a national injunction preventing federal bureaucracies from corresponding with social-media firms. It sent shock waves through the Biden administration and Silicon Valley. James Bovard asked, “When did the Biden administration become infallible with a divine right to nullify the free speech of conservatives?”
The federal judge described the evidence he saw as “the most massive attack against free speech in United States’ history.” He argued that the Biden administration pressured social-media companies “to censor misinformation regarding climate change, gender discussions, abortion, and economic policy.”
Censorship began at the very start of the Biden era. Less than two weeks after the inauguration, the White House Digital Director demanded that Twitter “immediately” remove a parody of Biden’s relatives. “Twitter officials suspended the account within 45 minutes but complained they were already bombarded by White House censorship requests at that point.”
A federal agency, tasked with countering foreign influence, was renamed the Mis-, Dis-, and Mal-information task force. It led the way in shutting down any discussion about concerns about the 2020 and 2022 elections.
The FBI convinced companies to change their policies and ban posts based on “hacked materials.” Then it became easy to censor any comments about Hunter Biden’s laptop arguing it was hacked material or else Russian disinformation.
The federal judge imposed a sweeping injunction banning federal agencies from contacting social-media companies. Considering all this evidence, it is easy to see why he did this.
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