{"id":1904,"date":"2025-02-17T15:57:17","date_gmt":"2025-02-17T15:57:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/?p=1904"},"modified":"2025-02-17T15:57:18","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T15:57:18","slug":"congressional-hearing-exposes-biden-administrations-censorship-of-online-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/2025\/02\/17\/congressional-hearing-exposes-biden-administrations-censorship-of-online-speech\/","title":{"rendered":"Congressional hearing exposes Biden administration\u2019s censorship of online speech"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.naturalnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/91\/2025\/02\/censored-file.jpg?ssl=1\" alt=\"\" style=\"width:839px;height:auto\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>U.S. House Judiciary Committee hearing exposed a &#8220;censorship-industrial complex&#8221; targeting free speech, with journalists Taibbi and Shellenberger detailing government efforts to suppress dissent.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Government agencies, including USAID, funded programs to silence narratives contradicting official COVID-19 positions, labeling them as &#8220;misinformation.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Examples included banning journalists like Alex Berenson and pressuring platforms to remove posts questioning vaccine safety, even when factual.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Democrats deflected criticism, focusing on unrelated issues, while Republicans called for defunding censorship programs and dismantling the system.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Witnesses warned of a global strategy for information control, urging Congress to investigate and eliminate taxpayer-funded censorship initiatives.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a contentious hearing this week, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee turned its focus to what many are calling an unprecedented assault on free speech. Investigative journalists Matt Taibbi and Michael Shellenberger, known for their work on the \u201cTwitter Files,\u201d testified about the Biden administration\u2019s efforts to silence narratives that contradicted official government positions, particularly on COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The hearing, chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), revealed a sprawling \u201ccensorship-industrial complex\u201d that critics argue has turned the free press into a propaganda arm of the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is an Alamo moment for the First Amendment,\u201d Taibbi declared, warning that the erosion of free speech is not just a domestic issue but a global one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The censorship-industrial complex<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Taibbi and Shellenberger detailed how government agencies, including the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), have funded programs to suppress dissenting voices worldwide. Shellenberger described a \u201cwoke reign of terror\u201d over the past 12 years, where individuals were afraid to speak their minds publicly or privately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cUSAID is just a tiny piece of the censorship machine,\u201d Taibbi said, explaining how taxpayer dollars fund initiatives that pressure social media platforms to remove content deemed \u201cmisinformation.\u201d He cited examples of USAID funding organizations like Internews, whose leader, Jeanne Bourgault, openly discussed promoting \u201cvaccine enthusiasm\u201d in India during the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019re paying this person to train journalists, and she doesn\u2019t know that the press does not exist to promote \u2018unity\u2019 or political goals like vaccine enthusiasm,\u201d Taibbi said. \u201cThat\u2019s propaganda, not journalism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The crackdown on dissent<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The hearing also highlighted the Biden administration\u2019s efforts to censor COVID-19-related speech. Taibbi pointed to the case of Alex Berenson, a former <em>New York Times<\/em> journalist who was banned from Twitter for stating that the COVID-19 vaccine did not prevent infection or transmission\u2014a fact later acknowledged by health officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rep. Jordan emphasized how the administration pressured platforms to remove posts, including a 2021 tweet by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. questioning the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine. \u201cThere is not one thing in that two-sentence tweet that\u2019s not&#8230; absolutely true,\u201d Jordan said, \u201cbut the Biden administration was pressuring to take it down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shellenberger added that the \u201cTwitter Files\u201d revealed how true stories about vaccine side effects were targeted. \u201cThey were pre-choosing narratives and then looking for posts that fell into the bucket of things that might constitute \u2018violation,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The censorship efforts extend far beyond U.S. borders. Shellenberger noted that organizations like the United Nations, the World Health Organization, and NATO have all called for increased censorship of online platforms. He described a \u201cbroader strategy for information control\u201d that includes not only censorship but also the co-opting of investigative journalism worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cDeep state agencies within the U.S. government have, for two decades, sought to gain control over the production of news and other information around the world as part of ongoing covert and overt influence operations,\u201d Shellenberger said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Democrats deflect<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While Republicans focused on the censorship-industrial complex, Democrats attempted to shift the conversation. Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-N.Y.) accused Republicans of ignoring broader issues like inflation and rising egg prices. However, witnesses like Paul D. Thacker, a former Senate investigator, criticized Democrats for being \u201cmired in denial\u201d about the Biden administration\u2019s censorship efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s pretty clear that Democrats remain mired in denial\u2014denial that Biden censored, even though Mark Zuckerberg admitted they pressured Meta to censor, and denial that censorship is bad,\u201d Thacker said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Calls to defund censorship<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The hearing concluded with calls to dismantle the censorship-industrial complex. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) introduced H.R. 1233, a bill to eliminate taxpayer funding of online censorship. Shellenberger urged Congress to investigate the funding sources of these programs, including \u201cpass-through organizations and shell organizations like the ones employed by USAID.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere is no way to remove this&#8230; surgically,\u201d Taibbi said. \u201cThe whole mechanism has to go.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As the debate over free speech continues, one thing is clear: the First Amendment is under siege, and the battle to preserve it is far from over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Sources for this article include:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/childrenshealthdefense.org\/defender\/alamo-moment-congress-holds-hearing-government-censorship\/\">ChildrensHealthDefense.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thenationaldesk.com\/news\/connect-to-congress\/house-gop-continues-to-investigate-allegations-of-biden-era-social-media-censorship-judiciary-committee-covid19-meta-facebook-twitter-files-x\">TheNationalDesk.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.racket.news\/p\/my-statement-to-congress-574?utm_campaign=post&amp;utm_medium=web\">Racket.news<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a contentious hearing this week, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee turned its focus to what many are calling an unprecedented assault on free speech. Investigative journalists Matt Taibbi and Michael Shellenberger, known for their work on the \u201cTwitter Files,\u201d&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","wpcat-1-id"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1904"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1905,"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1904\/revisions\/1905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}