WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — President Joe Biden’s administration worked closely with Facebook to censor dissent about COVID and related policies, according to the latest set of emails released by Congressman Jim Jordan.
The emails provide further evidence that Big Tech works not as an independent, private company, but as an extension of the federal government.
For example, on one call with a Facebook employee, a Biden “public engagement” director named Courtney Rowe appeared to mock rural Americans. “If someone in rural Arkansas sees something on FB, it’s the truth,” Courtney Rowe said. “What we need is help pushing back on the myths.”
As Fox News noted, the White House previously denied that there was spying on Americans who raised questions about the COVID shot.
LifeSiteNews previously reported on Biden’s claim that Facebook was “killing people” by not censoring more COVID “misinformation” and former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki acknowledging that the administration had been “flagging problematic posts for Facebook that spread disinformation.”
Another leader in the censorship push was Rob Flaherty, President Biden’s former director of digital strategy. He is expected to join the president’s re-election team, which could raise concerns about how he might use that relationship with Facebook to suppress information favorable to his boss’s opponents.
“I’m curious – NY Post churning out articles every day… What is supposed to happen to that from Policy perspective. Does that article get a reduction, labels?” Flaherty asked. Facebook, along with other Big Tech companies, suppressed a true New York Post story about information on Hunter Biden’s laptop concerning his business dealings.
For example, Flaherty questioned whether Facebook was doing enough to reduce traffic from sites like the @nypost.
“I’m curious – NY Post churning out articles every day… What is supposed to happen to that from Policy perspective. Does that article get a reduction, labels?” pic.twitter.com/zC8QFWcckZ
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) August 3, 2023
Last December, Jean-Pierre insisted the White House was “not involved” in Facebook’s decision to suppress stories related to presidential son Hunter Biden’s lost computer.
Flaherty also suggested that people should be “kick[ed] off Facebook.”
He also suggested that The Daily Wire and right-leaning commentator Tomi Lahren’s posts be downgraded in favor of boosting the Wall Street Journal and New York Times.
But that’s not all.
The Biden White House wanted to control what you saw on Facebook.
They questioned whether Facebook could change its algorithm so users saw more posts from the New York Times and less from the @realDailyWire and @TomiLahren. pic.twitter.com/oZUDDv6324
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) August 3, 2023
Throughout 2021, Flaherty continued to press Facebook to act. “And of course, Facebook caved. The company ADMITTED to the White House that it reduced content of certain posts – even if the posts didn’t violate the company’s terms and contained TRUE information,” Congressman Jordan wrote.
One employee promised the White House that it would “attack virality” through “feed demotion.” The employee explicitly said that even information that is not “false” would be demoted, such as criticism of vaccine mandates because it “leads to a vaccine negative environment.”
“These newly subpoenaed meeting notes continue to show the Biden White House’s desire to direct and control content on Facebook,” Jordan wrote. ”More evidence of the censorship-industrial complex.”
He promised more information would be revealed.
The new revelations drew criticism from political leaders and advocates of medical freedom.
“The Biden Administration is the enemy of free speech,” Stanford University Professor Jay Bhattacharya stated. “It is the most authoritarian American government I’ve experienced in my adult life.”
“This next installment illustrates, among other things, the contempt that the government censors have for the common sense of ordinary Americans,” Dr. Aaron Kheriaty wrote. “The level of condescension and unwarranted confidence in their own judgment is staggering.”
The emails add to the growing body of evidence that show that federal government officials are working to suppress right-leaning and non-leftist voices. Other documents obtained through a lawsuit by Missouri, Louisiana, and commentators including Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., show that White House officials had direct access to Big Tech employees.
As previously reported by LifeSiteNews, the first batch of emails released as part of the lawsuit found that Biden officials and Big Tech met regularly to discuss what to censor. One email from a Facebook employee to two Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) staffers asked about setting up a monthly “misinfo/debunking” meeting “in addition to our weekly meetings.”
Facebook officials also deleted a parody Instagram account of Dr. Anthony Fauci after a Biden official named Clarke Humphrey complained.