When did the Biden administration assume infallibility and the divine right to suppress the free speech of conservatives? On July 4th, a federal judge, Terry Doughty, criticized the Biden censorship regime, calling it potentially the most significant attack on free speech in US history. Judge Doughty issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the White House and federal agencies from pressuring social media companies to censor certain content. He anticipated that his final ruling would find First Amendment violations by various government entities, including the White House, Surgeon General, FBI, State Department, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). According to Doughty, the Biden administration exerted pressure on social media platforms to censor information related to climate change, gender discussions, abortion, economic policy, and COVID. Censorship initiatives began soon after President Biden’s inauguration. Two weeks into his term, the White House’s Digital Director, Rob Flaherty, demanded that Twitter remove a parody account of Biden’s relatives immediately. Twitter complied within 45 minutes, but officials expressed frustration with the volume of censorship requests they were receiving from the White House. The Biden administration consistently criticized Facebook for not doing enough to suppress posts and videos that could contribute to “vaccine hesitancy” regardless of the posts’ veracity. In an email to Facebook officials on July 15, 2021, Flaherty expressed his dissatisfaction with their actions. The following day, President Biden accused social media companies of “killing people” by not sufficiently suppressing criticism of COVID vaccines. Biden’s staff even threatened these platforms with antitrust lawsuits and prosecutions. Censorship efforts expanded due to a significant bureaucratic shift. Initially created to counter foreign meddling in the 2016 election, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Act (CISA) underwent a transformation and was renamed the “Mis-, Dis-, and Mal-Information Team” (MDM Team). Ironically, despite its new name, the targets of federal censorship during the Biden era have predominantly been American citizens. Federal censorship influenced the 2020 and 2022 elections, leading to the suppression of millions of social media posts, primarily from conservatives. During the 2020 election, CISA sought to suppress assertions such as “mail-in voting is insecure,” even though absentee ballot fraud has been a historical concern. Furthermore, the FBI influenced companies to change their policies and ban posts involving “hacked materials.” They propagated the narrative that the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation or hacked, despite the FBI’s confirmation of its authenticity. CISA’s objective is to control the public’s mindset. A CISA advisory committee issued a report stating that false and misleading information poses significant risks to critical functions such as elections, public health, financial services, and emergency responses. Consequently, any information deemed “misleading” by government officials can be suppressed. The court decision revealed that CISA simply relied on government officials’ assertions without skepticism, assuming their reliability. However, Judge Doughty highlighted that the purpose of the free speech clause was to prevent agencies like CISA from determining what is true or false. The Biden administration’s censorship regime operates under the premise that “government equals truth.” By June 2022, Flaherty expressed his desire to monitor Facebook’s suppression of COVID-19 misinformation as vaccinations for children under the age of 5 were set to increase. Despite the FDA having minimal safety data on vaccines for infants and toddlers, Biden declared them safe. Consequently, any contradictory assertions automatically became false or misleading. Federal agencies are attempting to portray themselves as helpless and innocent parties in response to the lawsuit, blaming the Russians, COVID-19, and capitalism for any suppression of free speech by social media companies. However, this defense is far-fetched and fails to hold up. Doughty imposed a comprehensive injunction prohibiting federal agencies from contacting social media companies to request the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of any content containing protected free speech. The Biden administration is expected to appeal the decision to protect its ability to censor for the public’s supposed benefit. Can Team Biden be prevented from tainting the 2024 elections with an onslaught of censorship? Senator Eric Schmitt, who initiated the lawsuit while serving as Missouri’s attorney general, emphasized the need to continue fighting against the Vast Censorship Enterprise. James Bovard, a member of the USA Today Board of Contributors and author of 10 books, writes this article.
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