Biden Administration and DHS Continue to Hamper Censorship Probe

In the ongoing battle of the Biden administration to claim transparency while not being the least bit transparent, Judicial Watch, a government accountability group, has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security for not disclosing documents in relation to any communications they may have had with social media platforms and the censoring of information.

Initially, Judicial Watch had filed a FOIA request to have documents disclosed showing any communication between the Cybersecurity and Information Security Agency (CISA) and Big Tech, specifically, major social media platforms. Much of the information included in the FOIA request also pertained to frequent meetings between not just Homeland Security, but also the FBI, revealed in a series of tweets by several journalists known as the “Twitter Files.” In December, FBI Agent Elvis Chan gave testimony to several Attorneys General that the agencies held weekly meetings with the tech giants.

A thread on the Department of Homeland Security-backed private censorship network that censored millions of social media posts on elections and COVID-19.https://t.co/irurqg4zUD

— kanekoa.substack.com (@KanekoaTheGreat) April 3, 2023

Tom Fitton, President of Judicial Watch, released a statement on Wednesday saying, “There is an unholy conspiracy in the Biden administration to censor Americans in collusion with Big Tech. This new Judicial Watch lawsuit shows the censorship abuse is furthered by unlawful secrecy and cover-ups.”

This is not Fitton’s and Judicial Watch’s first go-around with the Biden Department of Homeland Security. They have also filed lawsuits for records pertaining to a group calling itself the Election Integrity Project working with CISA on the possible censoring of information during the 2020 election, as well as the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Health and Human Services.

Judicial Watch continues to keep pressure on DHS to be forthcoming with the requested documents, but it has been the Twitter Files and the uncovering of what many Americans had suspected for some time: that there was definite suppression of information. It seemed to ramp up prior to the 2020 election, as Twitter suppressed the Hunter Biden laptop story. The decision to ban former President Donald Trump from the platform was also a combined effort, as was information related to the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol. The Twitter Files also revealed that there may have been some communication regarding action, be it requests or demands, from not only the FBI but other intelligence agencies to remove certain content or even users altogether from the platform.

Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit against the DHS for records showing cooperation between the Cybersecurity and Information Security Agency (CISA) and social media platforms to censor and suppress free speech. READ: https://t.co/0axGsrlxu1 pic.twitter.com/VmyiCXkQKU

— Judicial Watch ⚖️ (@JudicialWatch) April 6, 2023

Prior to the latest lawsuit by Judicial Watch, State Attorneys General Jeff Landry of Louisiana and Andrew Bailey of Missouri had filed preliminary injunctions to stop the toxic partnership between government and tech trampling on Americans’ First Amendment rights. Some of the findings in the suit filed by Landry and Bailey show just why the Biden administration and DHS might be dragging their feet on any document disclosure. In the suit, they state that Candidate Joe Biden stated that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, “should be subject to civil liability and even criminal prosecution for not censoring such core political speech.” The outbreak of COVID-19 proved to be open season for government censorship. The suit also states that several in Dr. Anthony Fauci’s inner circle contacted social media several times and asked them to remove content that was critical of Fauci.

The work of DHS and CISA did not stop there. Even during the 2022 midterm election, a special CISA committee was engaging the help of certain left-wing people and groups to help fight “disinformation.” With “transparency” like this, Judicial Watch likely has more work ahead of them.