{"id":1710256,"date":"2022-10-25T07:50:33","date_gmt":"2022-10-25T11:50:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1710256"},"modified":"2022-10-25T11:07:22","modified_gmt":"2022-10-25T15:07:22","slug":"miranda-devine-lawsuit-reveals-vast-censorship-scheme-by-big-tech-and-the-federal-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/miranda-devine-lawsuit-reveals-vast-censorship-scheme-by-big-tech-and-the-federal-government\/","title":{"rendered":"Miranda Devine: Lawsuit Reveals Vast Censorship Scheme by Big Tech and the Federal Government"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmiranda-devine-lawsuit-reveals-vast-censorship-scheme-by-big-tech-and-the-federal-government%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1710256&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<div class=\"inline-module inline-module--columnist inline-module--author\">\n<div class=\"inline-module--author__img\">\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"76\" height=\"69\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/miranda-devine222.png?w=76&#038;h=69&#038;crop=1\" class=\"attachment-nyp_columnist size-nyp_columnist\" alt=\"Miranda Devine\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/miranda-devine222.png?w=152 152w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/miranda-devine222.png?w=114 114w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/miranda-devine222.png?w=76 76w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/miranda-devine222.png?w=38 38w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/miranda-devine222.png 706w\" \/>\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>A little-noticed federal lawsuit, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/21pdf\/21a240_d18e.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Missouri v. Biden<\/a>, is uncovering astonishing evidence of an entrenched censorship scheme cooked up between the federal government and Big Tech that would make Communist <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/09\/01\/hunter-biden-set-up-dinner-for-client-at-chinese-embassy-in-dc-after-joes-luncheon-emails\/\">China<\/a> proud.<\/p>\n<p>So far, 67 officials or agencies \u2014 including the FBI \u2014 have been accused in the lawsuit of violating the First Amendment by pressuring Facebook, Twitter and Google to censor users for alleged misinformation or disinformation.<\/p>\n<p>Victims of the Biden-Big Tech \u201ccensorship enterprise\u201d include The Post, whose<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/10\/06\/fears-of-only-a-weak-wrist-slap-for-scandal-scarred-first-son-hunter-biden\/\"> Hunter Biden <\/a>laptop expos\u00e9 was suppressed by Facebook and then Twitter in October 2020 after the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/10\/16\/director-christopher-wrays-use-of-fbi-jet-amounts-to-embezzlement-current-ex-agents-allege\/\">FBI<\/a> went to Facebook, warning it with great specificity to watch out for a \u201cdump\u201d of Russian disinformation, pertaining to <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/10\/02\/senile-joe-biden-is-bringing-shame-to-the-united-states\/\">Joe Biden<\/a>, with an uncanny resemblance to our stories.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe allege that top-ranking Biden administration officials colluded with those social media companies to suppress speech about the Hunter Biden laptop story, the origins of COVID-19, the efficacy of masks, and election integrity,\u201d is how the lawsuit was summarized by intrepid Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, who is leading the action.<\/p>\n<p>The censorship related to alleged \u201cmisinformation\u201d about pandemic lockdowns, vaccines and COVID-19, and included material from the esteemed infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists associated with the Great Barrington Declaration, which proved over time to be correct and eventually much of which was adopted as official policy by the CDC.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/10\/USA-POLITICS-COMEY-TRUMP-FBI-e1666577672454.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/USA-POLITICS-COMEY-TRUMP-FBI-e1666577672454.jpg\" alt=\"FBI\" class=\"wp-image-24374634\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/10\/USA-POLITICS-COMEY-TRUMP-FBI-e1666577672454.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/10\/USA-POLITICS-COMEY-TRUMP-FBI-e1666577672454.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/10\/USA-POLITICS-COMEY-TRUMP-FBI-e1666577672454.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=512 512w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>The FBI is under fire for telling social media platforms like Facebook to censor users for alleged disinformation.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">EPA\/ Jim Lo Scalzo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Defendants include FBI special agents Elvis Chan and Laura Dehmlow, who gave Facebook that detailed \u201cdisinformation\u201d briefing right before The Post was censored; White House press secretaries, current and former, Karine Jean-Pierre and Jen Psaki; Dr. Anthony Fauci, the president\u2019s chief medical adviser, and former White House senior COVID-19 adviser Andrew Slavitt; counsel to President Biden Dana Remus; the DHS over the disbanded Disinformation Governance Board; the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency; the FDA; the State Department; and the US Election Assistance Commission.<\/p>\n<p>Last month a federal judge ordered a reluctant Fauci and Jean-Pierre to hand over their records, so the case is progressing nicely.<\/p>\n<p>This civil action by the attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana, in partnership with such red-pilled lawyers as Jenin Younes at the New Civil Liberties Alliance, overlaps with a separate lawsuit by former <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/08\/28\/covid-vaccine-doubter-alex-berenson-permanently-banned-from-twitter\/\">New York Times reporter Alex Berenson<\/a>, whose legal victories so far have forced Twitter to reinstate his account after he was banned (although the cat-and-mouse game continues as he is currently suspended again).<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/10\/GettyImages-1234075892.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/GettyImages-1234075892.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Anthony Fauci\" class=\"wp-image-24374654\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/10\/GettyImages-1234075892.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=2048 2048w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/10\/GettyImages-1234075892.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/10\/GettyImages-1234075892.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/10\/GettyImages-1234075892.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=512 512w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Dr. Anthony Fauci is one of the defendants in the case.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Getty Images\/J. Scott Applewhite-Pool<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>\u2018Even lies\u2019 protected<\/h2>\n<p>Berenson\u2019s legal discovery unearthed internal Twitter documents and Slack conversations showing Biden administration officials instructed the social media company to de-platform him because he was dissenting from the official line on school lockdowns and the efficacy of vaccines.<\/p>\n<p>He was viciously attacked for tweeting that schools should be opened: \u201cpeople called me a ghoul a lot. [But] Twitter and Facebook prevented a real debate and discussion about the value of school closures \u2026 Is there anyone who thought we did the right thing in fall of 2020 and 2021 by allowing teacher unions and Democrats to keep schools closed?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His evidence-backed view that school lockdowns were being driven by teacher unions, not data, and would do long-term harm to children, has been proven correct. Similarly, his view was correct that vaccines were not stopping the transmission of COVID and thus mandates were pointless. Yet he was silenced, and no debate was allowed.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/10\/GettyImages-531819956.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"699\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/GettyImages-531819956.jpg\" alt=\"Former New York Times reporter Alex Berenson\" class=\"wp-image-24374822\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/10\/GettyImages-531819956.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=1398 1398w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/10\/GettyImages-531819956.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=1049 1048w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/10\/GettyImages-531819956.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=699 699w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/10\/GettyImages-531819956.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=350 349w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/10\/GettyImages-531819956.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all 1024w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Former New York Times reporter Alex Berenson\u2019s Twitter account was reinstated after legal battles.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">WireImage\/Desiree Navarro<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cWhether I\u2019m right or wrong \u2026 you have to have an open discussion. The First Amendment protects even lies. That\u2019s how it should be on these platforms. The efforts to regulate speech and call something disinformation is \u2026 demonizing folks and saying they\u2019re un-American [for dissenting],\u201d he said. \u201cWhat I have is evidence that I was specifically targeted in private communications \u2026 because I was being an a\u2013hole on Twitter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a White House meeting in April 2021, Twitter representatives were asked \u201cone really tough question about why Alex Berenson hasn\u2019t been kicked off from the platform,\u201d a Twitter employee wrote.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignright\">\n\t<\/aside>\n<p>Slavitt, then with Biden\u2019s COVID response team, complained specifically about Berenson, even though Twitter said he had broken no rules.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey really wanted to know about Alex Berenson,\u201d the Twitter employee wrote on Slack.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAndy Slavitt suggested they had seen data [visualization] that had showed he was the epicenter of disinfo that radiated outwards to the persuadable public,\u201d the employee wrote. \u201cI\u2019ve taken a pretty close look at his account, and I don\u2019t think any of it\u2019s violative.\u201d<br \/>But over the next four months, as opposition to vaccine mandates grew, the Biden administration ratcheted up the pressure.<\/p>\n<p>Berenson identifies as the final blow a public statement by Biden on July 16, 2021, that social media companies were \u201ckilling people\u201d by encouraging vaccine hesitancy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA few hours after Biden\u2019s comment, Twitter suspended my account for the first time. On August 28, 2021 \u2026 Twitter banned me \u2014 for a tweet that it has now acknowledged should not have led to my suspension,\u201d he said. \u201cMy argument is that the White House turned these companies into extensions of the state. By putting explicit pressure on Twitter, they made it an extension of the state, whether willingly or not.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Biden administration \u2026 violated my First Amendment rights.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/10\/USA-BIDEN_TREASURY-3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/USA-BIDEN_TREASURY-3-1.jpg\" alt=\"Joe and Hunter Biden\" class=\"wp-image-24374616\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/10\/USA-BIDEN_TREASURY-3.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=2048 2048w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/10\/USA-BIDEN_TREASURY-3.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/10\/USA-BIDEN_TREASURY-3.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/10\/USA-BIDEN_TREASURY-3.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=512 512w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>The Biden administration is accused of having officials work with social media companies to suppress speech about the Hunter Biden laptop story.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">REUTERS\/Joshua Roberts<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Last month, the federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Twitter and other social media platforms don\u2019t have an unlimited right to discriminate against \u201cspeech they don\u2019t like.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Platforms are not newspapers. Their censorship is not speech,\u201d the court said. \u201cThe First Amendment protects speech: it generally prevents the government from interfering with people\u2019s speech.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Pfizer\u2019s involvement<\/h2>\n<p>Berenson has another lawsuit afoot, against the Biden administration, vaccine manufacturer Pfizer, and Pfizer board member Scott Gottlieb, the former head of the FDA who was instrumental in getting him banned, as documents from his legal discovery show.<\/p>\n<p>This month, Berenson published on his substack an email that Gottlieb wrote to Twitter in August 2021, complaining about his various tweets criticizing Fauci, and claiming, \u201cThis is why Tony needs a security detail.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/10\/12821824aj.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/12821824aj.jpg\" alt=\"Former New York Times reporter and COVID-19 vaccine critic Alex Berenson addresses attendees on day one of the 2022 Conservative Political Action Conference\" class=\"wp-image-24374615\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/10\/12821824aj.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=2048 2048w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/10\/12821824aj.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/10\/12821824aj.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/10\/12821824aj.jpg?quality=75&#038;strip=all&#038;w=512 512w\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Berenson has become a known COVID-19 vaccine critic and spoke at the 2022 Conservative Political Action Conference.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Paul Hennessy\/SOPA Images\/Shutterstock<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But nothing Berenson said about Fauci would create any need for extra security. He just called Fauci \u201carrogant,\u201d a \u201cskilled courtier\u201d and mocked his claim that \u201cattacks on me, quite frankly, are attacks on science.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Berenson was hardly alone in criticizing Fauci. At least half the country felt the same way. In any case, he was entitled to voice his opinion, so he\u2019s suing Gottlieb.<\/p>\n<p>Gottlieb has not denied Berenson\u2019s claims in his frequent TV appearances. Just this Sunday he was interviewed on the CBS flagship program \u201cFace the Nation,\u201d to \u201cbreak down the false claims being spread online about COVID vaccine mandates\u201d for children.<\/p>\n<p>But CBS never disclosed that Gottlieb is a member of Pfizer\u2019s board, earning close to $400,000 for his trouble. That is more relevant than his past FDA employment. Of course, Pfizer is a big advertiser, so maybe CBS didn\u2019t want to draw attention to the fact that its favorite vaccine expert is compromised.<\/p>\n<p>These lawsuits are the only obstacle between Americans and a frighteningly pervasive new federal censorship scheme on behalf of shadowy interests, using \u201cdisinformation\u201d as a catchall excuse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A little-noticed federal lawsuit, Missouri v. Biden, is uncovering astonishing evidence of an entrenched censorship scheme cooked up between the federal government and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1363926,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1710256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1710256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1710256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1710256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1363926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1710256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1710256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1710256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}